The Irony of Being a Ninja
by Dairene Kezelghski
Summary: ACT II: Kakashi knows that the world is in peril... but the thing he needs to save is in the wrong side of the battlefield. He wants to save the last remnants of his sanity, but why not in Konoha? NOTE: PLEASE READ "CHANGING MOTIVES" FIRST.
1. Unlikely Souls

**Author: **Good day, minna-san! I'm back again (yep, in an instant after publishing my last chapter for my recent story) for another round of story-telling. Before anything else, I **want to warn those who are currently reading this to turn their heads back and push your browser's back button. Please make sure you have read 'Changing Motives' before proceeding to this one**.

I don't have too much to say... There.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

**And so the story begins...**

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The Irony of being a Ninja

**Chapter 1 – Unlikely Souls**

It wasn't a mistake. It was Konoha.

The Hidden Village in the Leaves was silently drifting through the night.

But there was something that was too erratic that particular moment.

Blood.

A silver-haired man stood in front of a clearing, looking at the place that he _unfortunately_ saw.

It was an ANBU predisposition to lose emotions when in the middle of a mission, yet for the moment he was having one. An ANBU should be perceptive of everything around, and the faltering self-awareness was one grievous crime against the ANBU conduct. The ANBU was trained with all attention on the mission and everything else that didn't matter would be forgotten as if it had just been a total trash. They were emotionless ninja that would only do everything just for the sake of the mission, trying to execute jobs with pure efficiency and effectiveness. In ANBU matters, being able to cover up emotions was one of the most particular requirements. And all other rules would root out from there.

He gripped his stomach, trying to stop out the flow of blood from the wound he took from his recent mission. The pain was back again, and it was taking toll of his concentration just to stand. But for the moment, all of those things didn't come into his priorities. And even being the great ninja that he prided as himself, the man couldn't move his feet and perform the final part of his mission. No, the scroll to the Hokage would come later, and his large wound would even come sooner and later than the former.

Perhaps, being unable to perform a mission by an ANBU was one of the gravest sins that one could make. For the ANBU squads to the Hokage, it was better to die than _not_ to be able to finish a mission. As known of the masked ninjas, missions would always go first, and the soon completion of tasks was the most substantial action that could be done by them. It was ingrained in their minds; their lives were worth risking for the completion of tasks served to the Hokage and to Konoha. They knew the fact that they were supposed to be tools for the success of every mission. They were powerful, and so they were being spent into the battlefield, being expected to finish the orders given to them.

It was the life on ANBU – a ninja deprived of their own emotions to be able to perform actions without hesitation. It was harsh, but as long as the safety of Konoha is kept, it would be worth it.

But there would always be the time that one's emotion would overpower the mind.

The silver-haired man suddenly knelt on the ground, disbelief clouding in his thoughts. He felt sickened when his eyes caught the surroundings. He felt that his stomach wanted to vomit out all of its content, his organs regurgitating wildly inside his system. He held his throat as if he was being choked, but also trying to stop himself from throwing up. It was a weird feeling that he was being nauseated by some unusual sight. Without any more encouragement to hold himself up, the ANBU gagged his stomach out.

_What happened here?_ He asked himself, looking at the pool of blood forming beneath three bodies that was mutilated beyond physical recognition. He coughed and then wiped the remnant of his contents. Even at his weakened form, his senses weren't failing him – he knew that it had to be blood that he smelled from afar. There was a lot of blood that was drenched into the place, and he was dismayed that it had happened in Konoha.

Why weren't there any ninja around?

His body felt ailing as his composure finally faltered upon the view laid in front of his eye – the single visible orb that showed the distress he felt. His ninja instinct betrayed him, as his mind and his body failed synchronously beyond their normal reaction. He was paralyzed in his spot; his mental composition ran erratic of the proper actions to do. He continued to shake in shock while still kneeling on the ground.

_I'm an ANBU, dammit!_ He yelled in his mind, trying to reprimand himself because of the failure he was trying to make out from himself. He would never let something fail under him, and it would be total humiliation once that happened. There were some losses when someone lost, and he wouldn't take the chance for some people to suffer those consequences. He had those kinds of failures in the past – creating more would mean his total insanity. And he wasn't just any normal ANBU to be seen around, and he always mentally noted to exemplify his deeds into the same cap of how he'd been known. He was an ANBU _captain_ and he needed to do everything to ensure the achievement of his tasks – be it his mission or not. For now, he preferred to regain his composure and stand up.

Swaying as he stood up from the ground, the ANBU decided that he would discover what hell happened there.

He heard a very faint blood-curling cry of a child from afar.

**---**

More dead bodies started to clog the ANBU's eyes, as he went deeper into that particular Konoha district. There was a trail of death that was spread throughout the place, covering the surrounding with the unusual aura of demise and destruction. The horridness that was materialized through the death of many people was overshadowing the peaceful night. The atmosphere of desolation was the most depressive one and it was the thing that was bogging him.

He had finally regained his self-control, now not being easily affected by the dead he found in his way, although he inwardly cringed for not being able to do something. They were already dead, and that was the ultimate condition for an ANBU to stop. In death there would be no chance, in death there would be no more life.

Blood continued flow through the canopy of buildings, the stillness of time creating an unfathomable void of darkened emotions and misery. In that time, death reigned over the whole place, its wretchedness continued to smite every life that tried to struggle upon the moment. In that instance, that night in Konoha would stage one of the most gruel deaths that happened in the village. The cold air of the night only whispered of merciless winds. The ANBU knew that the wrongness of the situation was too much subduing. There had something to be done – and he would be the one doing that.

He continued to jump through the rooftops, scanning the area for presence of the enemies and still-living people below in the roads or perhaps even the building. He was using the Sharingan to detect some signs of life and movements, but he could not keep it up as long as he wanted to – he was still suffering from exhaustion from his mission and he wanted to save as much energy as he could for the confrontation that was going to happen if he luckily bumped into the people who caused the trouble. To alleviate that, he would only open the Sharingan for five seconds, scanning the place with a 75⁰ head turn from left to right, to make his inspection quick and efficient.

After five minutes, he was still unsuccessful in finding any _living _presence from the people below and the enemies who did the _massacre_.

The silver-haired ANBU winced in about the increasing pain brought about by his continuous jumps through the roofs and the continuous use of chakra through the Sharingan to scan the most disturbing scenery in his life. He was actually moving blind through the place, unsure of what to look for or what to do. It was so staggering that he couldn't tell himself of the _first real _thing he would do. Of course, the still awake part of his ninja senses was telling him to hastily discover who did the act, but the ANBU knew better at the moment. He could only smell blood, and there was too much blood in the area. He could literally sniff the area to find out that it was bathed in blood, aside from the lingering aura of fear that came from the victims – or what was left of them.

_What am I doing?_ Why was he there?

There was too much blood in the place, and it would be obvious that he be hard-pressed in tracking the perpetrator. Not unless he had a better nose to do such act.

His left hand quickly descended to his kunai pouch, getting the pointed and sharp weapon and twirling it expertly on his fingers. After the small show with the weapon and gripping it with subtle concentration, he slowly moved it nearer to his right hand. He let the pointed part of the kunai to strike his right thumb, the metal instantly puncturing the skin of his finger. He repressed the urge to groan in pain, since he had tolerated it too many times in his life. A simple pinprick on the finger was one of the least dangerous types of injury one can obtain – it was the most pointless wound that one could die to. Pushing off the thought about the minor cut, the man channeled his chakra as he made some hand seals. Finishing it with some milliseconds, he slammed his right hand to the ground announcing the name of the jutsu he used.

"Summoning jutsu!" A cloud of smoke appeared at the point where the hand met the ground. After the smoke disappeared, it revealed a small pug wearing some type of blue identification cloth, a Konoha forehead protector tied on its head.

"_Kakashi_!" The small dog almost growled to his summoner. "You just summoned me _five _hours ago! What's the rush in summoning me again? And––" The dog stopped speaking when he finally smelled the scent permeating inside his nose, some bewilderment forming and being written on his face. The surprise was still clouding in his features. "I guess it's an emergency."

"Pakkun," Kakashi called out the name of the ninja dog. "I need your help in this."

"There's too much death that happened here." The dog shared his observation, twisting his head around and looking at lifeless houses and streets. He moved his head back to Kakashi, finally realizing another piece of surveillance material. "You're hurt."

"I got it from the last mission." The ANBU replied promptly.

"What happened here?" Pakkun asked.

"I don't know yet, Pakkun." The ninja answered. "I was on my way back to the Hokage Tower when I sensed something different from this district." He explained, the natural coldness and emotionless tone of an ANBU faltering. "It was then I found out that a massacre _is _happening here."

"_Is happening_," Pakkun repeated, trying to clear the words.

"Yes. I kept on hearing some screams before I summoned you." The ANBU explained. "I need you to help me find the one who _is _causing this."

The summoned dog processed the words that he heard, before nodding to his master, saying, "I will." Pakkun started sniffing the air, the smell of a hundred types of blood saturating his nose to confusion. He ignored it, trying to sort out the freshest scent of blood among all the others. Being the intelligent summon as he was, Pakkun knew that if the killing was still in the process, then there was a higher chance of tracking the suspect thought the newness of the human blood odor in the air. The enemy would always be around where the newest kills were happening.

"I know where," Pakkun spoke.

"Lead me." Kakashi said.

They were moving at a fast pace, trying to outrun time itself before it was too late. Pakkun continued sniffing though the air, updating his summoner about the movement pattern of the enemy. The ANBU felt weaker as he continued to discover more dead bodies from both the civilian and ninja sector. He felt his rage filling up as more of the area was being revealed, his blood boiling to unimaginative heights proportionate to his anger. Before another fight was to ensue once he reached the perpetrators, Kakashi swore that the infiltrators would die a very slow and painful death he would perform in his own way, a one that would put shame into ones being utilized by those in the Assassination and Interrogation Unit of Konoha. Those who defile his precious village would only deserve a horrible death.

Pakkun stopped dead in his track, which prompted the ANBU to stop as well.

"Pakkun, where are they?" Kakashi asked, a kunai ready in his hand.

The summon didn't answer.

"There's only _one_." Pakkun finally talked, his voice laced with terror. "I thought they were in a group, that's why I located only one location. But…" The dog's speech trailed off. "You need to ask _help_, Kakashi."

"We've come too far, Pakkun. And he'll have the time to escape if we leave him." Kakashi answered, amused to find his summon panic. "You ask Hokage-sama about this, if this situation is indeed dire."

"But––" Pakkun was to protest, when Kakashi talked again.

"Pakkun, get to your feet before it's too late." Kakashi's voice was full of authority and it brought Pakkun into an uncomfortable feeling. Without anymore hesitation, Pakkun jumped out of Kakashi's way, going towards the direction of the Hokage-tower.

With a sigh, Kakashi continued on his way to the place Pakkun directed. As he went on his way, he couldn't contain the amusement he had from seeing the expression from his summon. It was a rare sight that his favorite nin-dog cautioned him to indirectly retreat, since he knew that Pakkun always trusted his capabilities. If Pakkun was making sure that he would need to stay safe, then there was something really dangerous about what was happening. He was injured, and that maybe one reason for Pakkun's worry. But he would prove his survivability on this one – he wouldn't let his ANBU title to be stained by a failure. Not on his own village.

Another wail of terror attracted the attention of Kakashi. He suddenly felt the urge to hasten his movement at that time; he knew that he was near the perpetrator, making himself prepared as seconds passed. The defilement of Konoha would end that evening. Those who smite the innocent and the weak only deserved death. He would bring justice to the people who died. He would––

He stopped jumping when a figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

"What happened here?" Kakashi asked, his captainship in ANBU quickly domineering his actions to the other ninja. "I want a full assessment. Also tell me where the other ANBUs are assigned to handle this matter."

"_Inu_-san?" The voice of the ninja under a porcelain mask sounded startled upon seeing the ANBU captain. His body tensed, simply being clogged in his thoughts about the proper words to say. "What are you doing _here_?"

Kakashi was clearly taken aback when the other ANBU answered. _What did he just say? _He asked his mind, confusion forming at the back of his brain. Would there be any reason for him not to be _there_? He was an ANBU that was just responding on emergency – surely the only viable reason for him to be there – but it was an immediate priority for him to take action. He was in Konoha, and there wasn't simply any _massacre _to be happening inside the village without attracting the attention of any other ninja.

The thin string of ambiguity finally snapped in Kakashi's head.

"You knew about this?" Kakashi's hummed dangerously. He could feel his own rage seethed from his body, the feeling of betrayal kindling the hazardous wick of violence embedded deep inside his system. _What is really going on out here?_

"Inu-taichou, you shouldn't be here. You must get out. _Now_." The ANBU quickly said, meandering his sentence not to answer Inu's question.

"Tell it to me." Kakashi still said calmly, even though he was furiously angry inside. "Or it will be a direct disobedience to the Hokage's will."

"You _don't _know anything, Inu-taichou." The ANBU said, his voice now pleading. "You must get out of––" The ANBU stopped speaking when his body suddenly fell dead in front of him. It triggered the silver-haired ninja to shift into a defensive position, his eyes shooting into different directions to identify the source of the attack. He looked peripherally at the dead ANBU, looking at the kunai that was embedded at the back of his head. A quick and efficient death.

"Such a nuisance for an ANBU," a cold voice suddenly rattled the place, startling Kakashi from his observance of the dead ANBU. He was not too far from the silver-haired man's location, just a rooftop away from him. Even at the short distance, Kakashi couldn't make out anything from the man, now that his Sharingan was rendered non-usable for the moment. He was sure for one thing – the other ninja was too _young_.

Suddenly, the man pulled a wire entangled in his hand, simultaneously heaving a body into the rooftop as well. The man tired in the wire yelped in pain, as the tightening wire dug through his skin, blood spurting out from the wounds. Making another pull, the newcomer sent his prisoner crashing through the roof tiles. At the second _painful _action done to him, the person finally exhausted the final pocket of his energy, finally stopping him from his unsuccessful struggles and attempts to escape. He even didn't have enough strength to escape. The ninja went nearer to the body, suddenly stomping his foot to the head of his prisoner. Satisfied with the silence the latter only have, the ninja smirked behind his _porcelain _mask, the gleaming moonlight putting too much stress on the paintings done on the ANBU mask.

"To end this…" The newcomer ANBU spoke, unsheathing a tantou that hung on his back. The blade reflected the moonlight as well; the lustrous coldness accompanied the melancholy of the night. It seemed that the night finally revealed its true nature; the peaceful aura it possessed merely a façade to mask the truth. The night was indeed an evil in itself, a fraudulent phenomenon that had trapped too much people who went unguarded though its merciless shroud. The night finally broke into its true horror, in revelation of its true temperament. Just as ninjas' deceived one another to win, the night was a grand illusion that betrayed anyone as well. Darkness could hide almost everything. Night wasn't really as peaceful as many thought it was.

The moon stared from above, watching how the night concealed the whole event. With its cold light that basked Konoha, it was like a guide to anyone into their own failure and death. It stared blankly at the sight, just continuing in shining light in the view. The cold sustenance was enough to numb some emotions, and could even spoil the rage to kill in deadly heights.

The tantou sliced the body, blood and gore flying around in randomness.

Kakashi felt he couldn't do anything.

Another thrust was made into the body.

And another.

Another.

"Stop it," Kakashi said, disbelief clouding his mind. It was too late for him to realize that the murderer was positive in making sure that none would stay alive. "Stop it…" his words came louder. _You're an ANBU… _"Stop it!" He shouted. _You're an ANBU; what are you doing?!_ "Stop it!" He yelled again, finally stopping the murderous ANBU in his deed.

Blood dripped from the tantou. The perpetrator ANBU stood straightly and looked towards the silver-haired ninja's direction.

Kakashi could only stare at the silvery-ash hair that was similar to his own, dancing with the winds that howled due to the multitudes of death the littered the place. _He could see himself…_

"You're an ANBU, and you must understand the meaning of an _order_." The man said, voice perfectly leveled and composed. "You are _like _me."

Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise as his memory of being an ANBU flooded his mind. Watching as the man whose hair was almost the same hue as he was; Kakashi could completely see himself as the man - a heartless, emotionless figure that sought only the safety of his kage. He could see himself perform the act of mutilation, which he had done too many times before. He was also like him. He would do anything to pursue the mission.

He was ANBU. How many times had he done that?

"Yes. You will _always _kill anyone else."

Kakashi felt sickened.

He was a murderer too.

"You will kill those who are standing on your way."

The innocent lives he had to kill. Those were too many.

"Don't deny the reality." The other ANBU spoke. "You will kill the guiltless. You will even kill children if you have to." Kakashi winced at the reality.

He was a hypocrite.

He felt something in his back, and the world faded into black.

* * *

It was one dream Kakashi wanted to remove from his system. It was one nightmare that bothered him to no end. It was the same vision that appeared in his sleep, with him ending up in waking with deep sweat, panting hard to catch his breath he seemed to have lost in along chase. With a kunai in hand to protect himself upon waking up, he would suddenly realize that he was still in his apartment, the last fragment of the vision fading back into the deep recesses of his memory. It was that dream again. And again was such a very tiring word. Forever would misfit at the moment. At those periods of realization that he just woke up from a dream, Kakashi would just leave his eyes open, trying not to fall into another trance of sleepiness. He'd want to evade having another dream. He let his eyes waft into the clock on the bed side table and making a mental note of it.

In similar experiences, he would know that it was already late. Whenever he had that dream, he would often stir into wakefulness at 09:00AM or as late as noon. He didn't know why that dream would always appear randomly at some night, and it made him stay awake for the rest of the night until dawn arrived. But he would often lose to that dream, letting it control the rest of his mind – it was a thorough mental genjutsu without him even trying to escape. There was no point to extricate; Kakashi had long pointed it to himself. Unlike genjutsu, there wasn't a simple way to dispel it. Either he wake up or let the dream to consume his mind. At least it would always end eventually.

He let his eyes scan the ceiling; the nothingness of the wooden feature was able to give him slight comfort. The emptiness cleared his mind of his present predicament, his brain relaxing as his thoughts were flushed from his system. The stress his thoughts were giving brought a grave headache, and it was already intolerable to wake up from a nightmare. He sighed; it seemed it would be another long day even though he woke up late.

Pushing himself from the bed, Kakashi sat wearily, slight weakness overcoming his body to continue moving. Well, it was the paradox of sleeping – having less time to sleep made a person feel weak, oversleeping had the same effect as well. He yawned as he stretched his extremities into some relaxing pull. He stared idly in front, pushing of the last remnants of sleep in his system. Deciding that being on bed wouldn't help him from finally waking up, Kakashi half-heartedly left the bed and quickly went into a wooden dresser on one side of the room.

**---**

Within twenty minutes, Kakashi was already dressed in his standard Konoha jounin uniform, his mask still stably attached to his face. He walked casually through the streets of the Hidden Leaf Village, a non-discernable behavior masking the entirety of his figure. He stared uninterested at the road to his destination, but making sure that his eyes were noting everything in peripheral. There were always some threats whenever he was in a certain place and he would always make sure that his attention was always at its peak even though he was in his own village.

Better be safe than sorry.

With a hunched shoulders and a lazy look from his eyes, Kakashi thought that he needed distraction for the moment – the dream he had last night was still bogging him. The nightmare – he preferred to call it an _invasive _dream – always screwed up his attentiveness that ultimately led to the slight demise of his own efficiency. It was a like a recurrent problem that bothered him because of his inability to solve it. It would always infiltrate his mind in a very imperceptibly irritating manner that it seemed he needed to literally scratch his mind off just to get rid of it.

Of how the dream returned into his nights – he didn't know.

But he had the idea.

Finally, his right hand reached the vest pocket where his most precious item was located, his hand feeling itchy to touch the article with new vigor. Releasing the item from its haven, Kakashi smirked discretely, noting that his addiction would be preoccupying his eyes and hands as well. He hoped that the magnitude of the intensely-powerful plot and the ever-compelling lovely and interesting characters of the book that he loved could take his mind off his mental matters.

He started to read and, to his surprise, it only brought him to dwell deeper in his mind.

Damn distractions.

He was on his way to the Hokage Tower, on the telling of the present Godaime Hokage for him to be there. He didn't have any concrete ideas of why he was being called in presence, but he knew it had to be related to the escalating matter of Iwagakure success in capturing Takigakure almost one month ago. The event had destroyed the unstable stillness of peace in the ninja world, an upheaval of opposing arguments rising over from different elemental countries.

Yet no one dared to oppose the action Iwagakure had done.

In a manner of time that only spanned a week, Iwagakure was able to overcome Takigakure, which first declared war with its neighboring village Kusagakure, in the south. When the Taki ninja force was besieging the weakened village of Kusa, the Tsuchikage decided that it was the best time for Iwa to attack, taking advantage of an open-to-an-attack Taki. No one really knew what happened and how the invasion of Iwa occurred, but Konoha could only get some information on some ninjas it sent at the time the former did its attack. Because the Hokage had finally decided to address Kusa and Konoha's alliance into a higher echelon, mutual defense was suddenly initiated, thereby sending Konoha's own ninjas to help defend Kusa. As a contingency plan, the Hokage also sent some of its ninjas into the heart of Kusagakure itself, in order to dispose the head to kill the body.

This ninja group that was sent to attack Taki itself returned with another mission failed, since Iwa ninjas began pouring inside the village when some unfortunate events began. Upon their return to Konoha, they could only say that Iwagakure ninjas were very strong beyond reasonable doubt.

"Kakashi-senpai," a voice attracted Kakashi from his reading-musing. He slowly raised his head away from the book, looking at the tree branch on his right.

"Tenzo," Kakashi called out the name of his contemporary in a perfectly leveled voice. "What brings you?"

"Tsunade-sama demands your presence immediately." Tenzo answered. "It's unusual for her to use _us _for this kind of message." He said, trying to put some amount of sarcasm in his statement. He noticed that Kakashi seemed not to get it. "Anyway, you need to go in there as much as possible, senpai. She seems anxious."

Kakashi cringed with the description. _Anxious?_ He thought, trying to sort out the possible outcomes when the name 'Tsunade' was joined together with the word 'anxious'. An anxious Tsunade was never a good host to the people who irritated her more than necessary. Being late was one of the things that made her vexed more than basic. In short, he was _doomed_.

With a quick nod, Kakashi suddenly 'poof'-ed out of existence, a cloud of smoke covering the spot where he was. Tenzo only observed his senpai vanished, and then went into some other direction.

* * *

"Kakashi," amber-colored eyes quickly darted towards the silver-haired ninja's direction. "You're late."

Kakashi felt an inward urge to smirk under his mask. He also felt some suppressed killing intent hovering around the office.

Tsunade sighed – she needed to deal with another _retard_. "I assume you know why we're having this 'small talk', Kakashi." She scowled at him, really displeased about the fact that it was becoming harder and harder for her to deal with the daily stresses imposed to the life of a kage. Her eyes didn't leave Kakashi.

"It's about Takigakure, I suppose." Kakashi replied with a dim tone. "Or is there something else?"

"Both, actually," Tsunade answered, putting her elbows on her table and interlacing her fingers together. "It has been annoying fact of the day that Takigakure had finally decided something that shocked the elemental countries." She maintained with such seriousness that quickly brought Kakashi in a soldier mode. "I can still even feel the confusion the Fire Daimyo in his letter." The Hokage touched a folded piece of paper just beside a thick stack.

"It's been a month since Takigakure's defeat." Kakashi started to speak. "I'm sure they haven't been faring well after being trounced under their own dreams of conquering another ninja village." The silver-haired man eye-smiled, instantly clearing himself of the seriousness he carried. "So what did they do this time?"

"They accepted Iwagakure's idea of territorial subjugation. "

The smile that was only evident though Kakashi's eye faltered. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Tsunade replied sincerely.

"But that's impossible," Kakashi almost raised his voice, but was able to suppress it on time. He really wasn't the type of person who would burst upon hearing something grave, massive or weird, but there would still be moments that one's composure would be compromised. Hell, what the Hokage said was something that had never happened since the foundation of the first ninja village in the elemental countries. It was something that had never been predicted before!

"It is possible, unfortunately." The Hokage insisted. "Our spies revealed that Shibuki had accepted it as to prevent his village into crumbling into pieces. He had no other choice, actually, since Iwagakure is almost literally choking Takigakure into its death. It's a tough decision to make, Kakashi, since it would also involve the unrest from the other villages and countries." Tsunade said, looking deeply into the jounin's single visible eye. She looked drenched in tiredness; Kakashi saw when she flashed her eyes on him.

"I knew the man," He spoke. "I knew him since it was once our mission to escort him back to Takigakure." He scratched his single visible eyebrow, sorting out the proper words for him to say. "I must admit; he was a coward back then; fears everything that is moving." He sighed. "But I know he'd changed. You told me once that the relations with Taki were actually doing well. I know Taki would change because of him."

"That was weeks before there was the total isolation of Takigakure from the rest of the ninja world," Tsunade cleared. "And it seemed that there was more than something we must consider."

"And what would that be, Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi sounded interested. If there was something to be added into an already _huge _problem, then it got to be something _bigger_.

"It's something already implicated through the mere fact that Takigakure has accepted Iwagakure's '_treaty_'." Tsunade started. She stood up from her chair, moving away from the table and going nearer to the window. She watched silently at Konoha for a while – the peaceful and tranquil imagery catching her attention briefly –, thinking of the imaginative futures flashing in her mind. "The word has already spread throughout the Great Ninja Countries, and I think everyone from those countries would have the same reaction as I do." Tsunade looked at Kakashi, scanning the face even though under the mask.

Kakashi remained silent. He was slightly irritated that the Hokage wasn't making a straight message to him.

"Unfortunately, Takigakure is the most powerful, only ninja village in the Waterfall Country." She said, pointing at the map that was recently hung inside the office. "And Iwagakure has _deliberately _treated Takigakure as the only _legitimate _village in the Waterfall Country."

As Kakashi processed the information, he could only gasp in realization. Hiding it quickly under his stoic and nonchalant features, the silver-haired jounin spoke. "That is outrageous."

"Yes, I know, Kakashi." Tsunade commented. "But we can't do anything." She sighed. "Since it is only Takigakure that Iwagakure has asked for the subjugation of the territory, the Tsuchikage _indirectly _implied that every non-ninja village in Waterfall Country will also be dominated by Iwagakure. And I don't think that Iwa would tolerate the non-ninja villages that will try to object with their plans." She told him.

"But that is as well an _indirect _incitement of war _against _a _country_." Kakashi commented.

"You should know that Waterfall Country is not a very strong one, Kakashi." Tsunade almost glared. "And you must add to the fact that for almost three years already, no ninja village and country have actually made some inter-village relationship with Takigakure." The Hokage groaned. "We cannot ask Takigakure to make some compromises diplomatically or we risk another conflict."

"You mean we can't intervene?"

"No, we can't. And probably no one can." Tsunade answered. "If Iwagakure has no hesitations in subjugating the territorialities of Takigakure – possibly the whole Waterfall Country itself –, then I have the thought that the Earth Country's Daimyo has nothing against Iwa's plan. I also even think that the other countries' daimyos will not even dare question it, although tensions will be high." She actually hissed when she said the last part of her statement, maintaining it when she continued, "Damn, Iwagakure is becoming too powerful." She looked defeated as she thought; _The Earth Daimyo's likeness to expand Earth Country is helping no better. Kami, I hope he has nothing to do with this one._

"So we will just actually _wait _for what is going to happen?" Kakashi sounded annoyed.

"Of course, but we make sure that we are not taking their acts lightly. I have a positive feeling that the other ninja villages will be trying to _pressure _Iwagakure." The Hokage replied.

"It's not an action." Kakashi hastily responded. "Pressuring another ninja village is just making _impression_."

"You think so?"

"The Tsuchikage is a stubborn old man, as I know, Tsunade-sama." Kakashi answered. "He lived in the ages when war was the only prevalent solution in arguing and solving things. He has a mindset very differently of the people of the new generation. He is already old, and he couldn't be simply swayed by mere show-off of pressure and disagreement."

"A good point," Tsunade nodded at Kakashi's reason. "But what makes you sure?"

"If he isn't, then Konoha might have already _acted_ one month ago."

Tsunade smirked weakly. As expected, Kakashi would always be able to distinguish something hidden in the underneath. It was vigilance that must also stand up in a ninja character, and Kakashi had always managed to utilize it. Observance of the physical – revealed or obscured – things and the psychological mannerisms of people was one key into digging more information than necessary. And in the ninja world, what was hidden was more important.

"You're right, Kakashi," Tsunade said. "Actually, there is something bothering me since Iwagakure had defeated Takigakure a month ago." She walked nearer to the table, bowed down slightly, and pulled open a drawer found in the lowest part of the table. She took a scroll before closing it, set it on top of the table, and watched the reaction from Kakashi. Seeing none, Tsunade channeled minute amount of chakra into her right finger. "I want you to see this." She put the finger where the chakra pulled, making a slicing movement in her left thumb. Blood poured out from the cut that was almost magically made, and Tsunade wasted no time and blood by smearing it directly on the scroll on top of the table.

The seal covering the scroll glowed briefly, assessing that blood that tainted it. After some seconds, the light died down and a small poof of smoke directly appeared covering the drawn seal. Satisfied with the sight, Tsunade reached out for the scroll and tapped it with chakra-enhanced fingers. After that, the whole scroll burst into smoke.

Behind his mask, Kakashi was having an amused expression, observing the scroll that the Hokage took. He was sure about it – the scroll was protected in a triple-layer protection seals. The first one needed to be released by the blood of the person who owned the scroll. Blood was already very hard to counterfeit, since it was already the proof of the person's identity. Of course, there would always be intelligent people who could do something about it… The next seal was under the first one, now a chakra-recognizing seal. It would release itself upon the channeling of the user's chakra, another indentifying technique. Of course, chakra would be very hard to fake as well.

If he was right, the third seal was actually around the scroll itself. In his own mind, he already theorized that it worked when the first two seals were released, thereby using both blood and chakra to open it. Well, it was the ultimate seal in the system – but he would well too much on the intricacy of the seal work. Well, seal users were very hard to understand in the first place…

The smoke cleared, revealing a thick stack of papers. Tsunade glanced up back at Kakashi. "I've been receiving these… from the Tsuchikage himself."

Kakashi gaped in shock, although still unapparent from his looks.

"I'm trying to hide these from most of the ninja here since I'm still at lost if what are written in these are true," Tsunade felt the need to talk since Kakashi seemed to be going on a silent mode. "I'm still waiting for Jiraiya for some confirmation."

"Confirmation for what, Tsunade-sama?"

"I'm dubious about the fact that Iwagakure has got the time to send these _letters_ to me." Tsunade answered. "What more that has been bugging me is my cluelessness if these letters are also sent to other kages or some people that are of importance." She looked back at Kakashi, letting her anxiety wash the jounin.

"What do those letters say?" Kakashi asked.

"Just look at them if you want…" Tsunade said, finally sitting back at her chair. "Kami, I don't have the time to problem that for the moment, since Konoha is going to undergo another shift in economy that might need my deeper concentration." She said, rummaging at the papers on her table.

Kakashi moved slowly to the table. He picked up the letters on the table but then he stared lazily at it. He flipped and turned each paper, scanning the pieces of its contents. He had some discrete expression of surprise in his lone eye, which he would relax at the moment his eye drifted to another page. After being briefed of the messages written on the paper, Kakashi shifted his gaze towards Tsunade, a firm look plastered on his masked face.

"They say the same thing," Kakashi told. "Almost pointless."

Tsunade didn't know if she would smirk at the jounin's discovery or put the same frown Kakashi was having. She plopped her tired shoulders at the backrest of her chair, sighing all the negative air she had built up in her system. Really, the stresses of being a Hokage were putting her into the threshold of the maximum human capacity. Sannin or not, she could admit to the face of every people in Konoha that her body would inevitably fail while in office. Putting a hand at her temple, she spoke to Kakashi again. "I know; that's why my head always ache whenever a new one comes."

"They still want to say that their action towards Takigakure was just a preventive action to thwart a greater threat to the ninja world." Kakashi said. "Seriously, who in the ninja world would believe that?"

"I do," Tsunade said. Kakashi's eyebrow actually twitched in his own misunderstanding. "If that is their reason for foiling Takigakure down, then I might have thanked the Tsuchikage personally."

"Why?"

"From the reports of the Intelligence Division's Interrogation Office, the most recent interrogation output has finally revealed that Takigakure was aiming for the Fire Country's capital, if the invasion of Kusa would be successful." Tsunade said.

"I see," Kakashi could only say. That just added gravity to Iwagakure's action. "But I must also say that the intentions of Iwa are _grand_."

"For now, their reasoning is acceptable, but, as you can see, it seemed that most of the people concerned are overlooking the fact that Iwa indeed prevented a more massive problem. That is why their plan of subjugating Takigakure is being scrutinized instead of the good deeds behind it." Tsunade replied. "But, like them, I'm also doubtful of their goals, and I must say that the severity of Takigakure's original preparation is being outweighed by the _indirectness _of their plan." She shot a glance back at the map. "To add a country into your own… well, that is actually a deliberate announcement of superiority over others."

Kakashi nodded. It couldn't be denied that Iwagakure's plan of subjugating Waterfall Country into Earth Country was something disreputable. It was only _one _village that tried to disarm the world of peace, but why _capture _the whole _country_ to finally obliterate the last stenches of the enemy? It was too much of a dream, if Iwagakure still persevere of their plan.

Still randomly flipping the papers in his hand, Kakashi caught the name of the person who wrote the fifth letter he was looking at. He cast a questioning gaze towards Tsunade. "Tsunade-sama, I thought that the _Tsuchikage _was the one who wrote this letter?"

"Yes, and why?"

"Why is this particular letter written by some other person?" Kakashi asked.

"Let me see that," Tsunade said, stretching her hand towards Kakashi. The latter quickly put the letter into her had, watching the strong hands grabbed the frail pieces. The Hokage scanned the name at the bottom of the paper, looking curiously at it. "Ah, I see…" She said, handing the paper back to Kakashi. "I remember…" She smirked. "It seems that the Tsuchikage himself is having some _industriousness _problem with himself." She watched playfully at Kakashi's growing curiosity embedded at his eye. "You see, sometimes, the Hokage could let handle these types of messages to the person assigned to the particular task. As for that one, a _representative _diplomat has written it for the Tsuchikage." She sighed again. "But then, that maintained their message from the very beginning. So boring."

Kakashi was nodding meaningfully. He rescanned the papers, now intently looking at the names who wrote the letters. Most of them were from the Tsuchikage himself, but there were some random names that wrote some, twice or thrice. When he reached the final piece of letter, his eye widened in surprise.

Luckily, Tsunade re-focused her actions on doing her paper works, missing the reaction on Kakashi's face. The silver-haired ninja tried to recompose himself, quickly layering his face of his serious countenance. Satisfied that the Hokage hadn't notice him, he reread the letter in his hands.

_Godaime Hokage-sama,_

_Tsunade_

_Konohagakure_

_ We continue to affirm Iwagakure's decision on attacking Takigakure as a precautionary and as a military action to suppress the threat against the Country of Earth. The Country of Earth is merely concerned about its safety, and Iwagakure is pledged to help in the country's problem, since it also posed as a threat to the village._

_We wish to clarify that Iwagakure's move is not an act of aggression. We are only focused on protecting the people and that is our main goal in the subjugation of Takigakure. We did not attempt to test our mettle against Takigakure, but out attack had been the product of our regard to the continuity of peace in our lands. We hope that Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaf, do not see our action as an indiscriminate act to show our capabilities or just to conquer more territories._

_ Getting to grieve respectfully as soon; solemn need and right uttered. To ought something, gift indomitable, for the few risks usurped._

_Third Representative to the Tsuchikage,_

_Iwagakure_

There wasn't anything wrong in the letter – Kakashi had actually used his ninja senses to scan the paper for something unusual. There weren't any genjtusu or any chakra-infused material in the letter; it was a normal one – the Hatake actually pitied himself for not thinking that it had been from the Hokage; sure she had done the same thing too. It was the same heading from the other letters, the seal of Iwagakure drawn on the topmost right corner of the paper. It had also been real – Kakashi wanted to slap his face for noticing even the most minimal details for him to consider the thing authentic. It had also the same content, although written in different style distinguished from the other ones.

It also had the peculiar paragraph in the end, the common ending statement when ninjas or people from Earth Country wrote a letter. Since the people in Earth Country was popularly known for being stoic in their own ways, the people then started to do things to show the others that they weren't like an emotionless rock. In fact, their minimum intervention to change others perception of them made them more popular, since their ways of writing a letter was unique. As evident with the letter, people from Earth Country (especially from Hidden Rock Village) would always put a seemingly poetic sentence or even a paragraph at the end of their every letter, infusing much emotion in the words. From then on, only those who had passion for such literature could only understand the real meaning of the people of Earth Country through those words.

Yes, there wasn't anything wrong with the letter – Kakashi had affirmed that himself. He knew the only bothersome thing in the letter – its _sender_.

_Third Representative to the Tsuchikage,_

_Iwagakure_

_Kakumo_

_The Third Representative to the Tsuchikage, huh…_ Kakashi thought. _Kakumo… _He spoke the name in his mind dryly, some ringing anger trying to consume him again. It was a name that burned deeply in his mind, since it was the greatest _treachery _that had been equated into his being. There was no event greater than the one he experienced a month ago, and it was always as fresh as his nightmare was, consuming him whenever he had the free time. His musing would always be stolen by the memory of Kakumo, a ninja from Iwa that he would never _ever _forget.

_So… you're the Tsuchikage's representative now, huh, _Kakumo_? _He asked in his mind, the name paining him much.

"––brought you here is that, I want to…" Tsunade trailed her words off when she noticed Kakashi spacing out. "Kakashi?"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi quickly replied, hiding the inner turmoil deeper in his system.

"Were you even listening to me?"

"Ahh… What was it again, Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi smiled sheepishly under his mask, his eyes crinkling into a smile as well, scratching the back of his head.

"I knew you will always be a retard…" Tsunade exhaled noisily. "First of all, I don't want to have anything with those letters anymore, so, please, as the order of the Hokage, I want you to keep it. I know it will be safer if it's in your hand, since I feel the assurance that no one will ever try to look into your belongings." She said.

"Are you sure, Hokage-sama?"

"The hell I am, ninja!" She replied.

Kakashi nodded with vigor. He knew that he had the chance to make a recheck of the letter himself. "So, what is the other reason why you called me here?"

Tsunade straightened herself after yelling. "As you can see, there had been some tensions and pressures building up within the elemental countries and the ninja villages in it – that because of Iwagakure's deliberateness." She started her briefing towards Kakashi. "Almost a year ago, a spy network was initiated along the territories of Lightning Country. Due to the instability of peace that lingers today, I'm afraid that the people working under the spy network are under the threat of being discovered." She paused for a while, gathering a small scroll from the main drawer of her table. She returned looking at the silver-haired ninja. "I've saved this mission for _you_, Kakashi, since I expect you can do this better than the other ninjas available. Not that I don't trust the others, but I'm just expectant of your capabilities and _situation_."

"I'm going to have a _rescue _mission?" Kakashi asked, slowly getting the scroll from Tsunade's hand. "But I'm sure that some jounin aside from me that can do the job better."

"Kakashi, it isn't an _S-rank _for nothing," Tsunade replied, her brows knitting together in sudden annoyance from the _lazy _ninja. "Now, just read the content of that scroll – I don't have the time to brief you of all the contents of your mission. I'm too busy doing paper works that I never knew where came from." She stopped speaking and continued to sort out the papers stacked on her table. When she didn't notice any movements from the jounin, Tsunade looked up with vexation. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get your _ass _moving now!"

Kakashi vanished out of existence when his Hokage yelled at him again.

* * *

Missions would always be taxing, and every ninja knew that fact. But, being the shinobi as they were, they knew they had to keep up with those missions in order to do two things in life. First was the very truth that it was their mission that gave them money to live, and it was a well-sought implication of higher-ranked missions. Well, having some tougher jobs meant some higher rewards – but that would always be fine. After a tedious mission and a rewarding sum of money, who was the ninja who'd not spent the rewards in a sake night-out? Damn… Konoha was too appealing after a long and dangerous job…

The second one was one of the most importances to Konoha itself. It was a well-known fact that a running ninja village was an active ninja village. Even though secluded beyond the natural light that was well-known to civilian villages, ninja villages' activity would always be based on the number of missions a village accepted. It was a measure of how much strong a ninja village was, and it would also be the reflection of its status. Weakened villages would dampen their activity, thus _subtly _telling the other villages of its vulnerability. It was a dangerous moment when a ninja village was perceived _incapable _by its contemporary villages.

It was the problem that could always be maneuvered out. During the Third Great Ninja War, Konohagakure suffered a lot deal of casualties in its ninja ranks, and its ninja troops suffered a decrease in number. Obviously, things were going out of hand of Konoha's side. It was then the plan of almost literally exhausting Konoha of its ninja was executed in order to preserve the countenance of the village from the views of the other villages. It was a hard decision to make, but in order for the other villages not to notice Konoha's ninja deficiency, the village had to continuously do missions. It was a cover for Konoha to be rendered still having its strength. It was to keep the impression that it was still strong, and sometimes impressions could also inevitably change the outcome of war.

To keep an impression was one of the riskiest plans to save people.

But it did require the sacrifices of some.

Kakashi stood alone on where the memorial stone was located, absentmindedly holding the scroll that Tsunade gave him some minutes ago. The place brought him peace that he couldn't easily found elsewhere, and it brought him the feeling of satisfaction of idleness. In that place, he would often forget about time for the visit of an old teammate, some silent words being thrown towards the invisible visage that Kakashi would always imagine in his thoughts. In that place he would often placate himself to the unwariness of a normal life, trying to make a silent accord with the surrounding. In there, he would find himself trying to concentrate in a new level, his mind drifting into the belief that _someone _was looking at him, listening to the uttered whispers of his mind and heart. He believed that _someone _would always be there at the memorial, enjoying the company he brought when he went there. He too enjoyed the silence the place carried, but there would always be better things than making a company out of nothing.

_Uchiha Obito…_ He read the name engraved in the stone, his mind scrutinizing every letters of the name he would never forget. His former teammate, and the person he might have considered his closest friend. It was the name that further changed the life of Hatake Kakashi, the name that would always be accompanied by the enigma called the Copycat Ninja Kakashi. Uchiha Obito was the single person that inexorably altered Kakashi, and the Sharingan eye on his left eyeball socket would be the testament of that.

However, some revelations had _crushed _some of his life again.

It was almost a month ago that he found out that Obito Uchiha was _alive _and _well_. In fact, he seemed to have gained a new life for himself, a life away from Konoha that he'd began to use some other name to mask his old identity.

Now, he was known as Kakumo, the Third Representative to the Tsuchikage.

A pain shot out from his chest, remembering the painful memory that had put his entire team into a dangerous standpoint in that time.

He opened the scroll carefully, the whole material still fresh from being hidden by the Hokage from others. It was from there he believed that Tsunade was really waiting for the opportunity to speak up with him, for her to give the mission scroll herself. His eyes slowly scanned the paper material, looking skeptically at the words in it.

_Spy network in Kumogakure threatened. Evacuation of ninjas in hiding started. One field officer left in the field. Possible attack imminent. Extraction point 10km southwest of Kumogakure. ASAP._

Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise when he realized that it wasn't the usual formal mission scroll that he usually got from the Hokage or the Missions Desk. From the look of the message, the scroll had been a _message _itself, conveying some emergency information that required _help_. If that was the case, the Hokage's act of hiding the scroll from the other available jounin wasn't of a choice, but indeed of _hidden _necessity. And from the brief date contained in the scroll, it seemed that the network had penetrated deeply in Lightning Country, since the distance of the rendezvous point to the ninja village was too near. It really required some _professional _skill to get done with. Without further ado, he cast a final glance towards the memorial stone, not knowing whether he should make another wave of goodbye to the name engraved in the stone or not.

He didn't want to make another farewell because Obito was still alive - even if he was on the wrong side of the battlefield, he didn't want to lose him again.

* * *

**2 weeks after

* * *

**

Umino Iruka was having another round of headache as he passed through the crowds in the humble streets of a civilian village in the territory of the Country of Lightning, the elemental country located at northeast of the Country of Fire. The chuunin academy teacher was trailing again at the place, wishing that he could go back to Konoha as soon as possible. Since he was away from the Academy and from the Missions Desk, Iruka was having a hard time to contain the idleness he was possessing in that location, since it seemed that it was becoming a stress for him _not _to do something. His joblessness in that civilian village was putting him into a feeling of uselessness, since his body was almost craving itself to be doing something productive. Well, being outside the walls of Konoha would always render him unoccupied, a status that most ninja wanted to have for themselves.

But he was _Umino Iruka_, one of the most loyal and _hardworking_ citizens of Konoha.

Even through the throbbing headache that was punishing him, Iruka couldn't miss the random chakra signatures that were following him through the village, a feat that always happened when a foreign ninja entered another foreign country. The Academy teacher couldn't miss those people, since he knew the very reason why those people were chasing him in shadows. It was better for him to remain cautious in his way, because he didn't want to make any mistake while he was visiting that village.

The news of Takigakure losing a quick war in the western side of the ninja world was the main news of the month. It never missed the conversation of people, the citizens wary of the impending complications of the brief war that happened last month. With Takigakure oppressing the still peace that was still holding weakly across the ninja world, many people were aware that it could lead to another set of conflicts again, just like the ancient ones that created a string of skirmishes and battles through the end. It actually bothered many people, since they were becoming conscious of the politics of war. They knew the consequences of breaking through the wall of unstable peace and it would not be left unattended by the other concerned people. From his experiences and the information that he gathered in his works, Iruka knew the complexity of those things. From his own analysis, there were already uproars from the leaders of the ninja villages against Takigakure.

But he wasn't just a simple citizen that knew how to analyze the minds of war.

He was a ninja, and he knew newer information than what the ordinary citizen did. From the latest message that the Missions Desk Department sent, it seemed that the proposal of Iwagakure of the subjugation of Takigakure was coming into a finishing step. From the information alone, it could be deduced that Waterfall Country's end was near. Iruka wished that such event mustn't happen, since it was already an incitement to the already crumbling peace throughout the lands. Iwagakure seemed to be kicking Peace down into its knees, and Iwa wore steel sandals embedded with blades.

The unstable serenity hovering in the ninja world would not last.

"Good morning, Umino-san!" A voice attracted the Academy teacher to whirl to his back. Seeing the person that was waving at him, Iruka let a small smile be plastered in his face.

"Good morning too, Rei-san." He answered in a calm but happy voice. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, Umino-san." Rei answered. "I just brought my son to school when I noticed you passing in this direction." He said, scratching the back of his head.

Iruka quirked an eyebrow towards Rei, but then proceeded to smile at the other man. "About your child, do you have some time to talk about him?" It brought an alarmed face in Rei's features. "Don't worry; I just want to talk about his progress."

Rei nodded, and the two men decided to go into a small restaurant stand in the village.

Halfway through their destination, in a spot where less people were walking in their ways, Iruka went nearer into Rei's body, as he procured a kunai from his pouch in a silent but effective manner. He hid the kunai from the general view, still retaining his gestures in normality, as not to attract the attention of the people.

"Umino-san? What are you--"

"You are not Rei-san, so drop the henge." Iruka said, trying to put a courageous face. Actually, he was nervous that he was confronting an enemy with all himself in a _foreign _location. It wasn't actually a good scenario for him.

The other one cleared his throat. "How did you know?" There was a change in his voice.

"There are no classes for this day," Iruka answered, trying not to stutter in his words. He brought his kunai nearer to the enemy's body. "Who are you and what are you doing with Rei-san's image?"

"You know the reason, Umino Iruka." The man said, hint of malice washing all his words. Suddenly, Iruka felt the presence of five more ninja that suddenly appeared around him and the man impersonating an acquaintance. With the sudden emergence of more enemy ninjas, Iruka cursed when he suddenly lost his concentration, his guard dropping in an instant. As soon as his whole body was exposed for the enemy to attack, Iruka felt so weak that his headache seemed to triple in its strength.

"Now, Umino, you have something to tell us."

* * *

- **End of Chapter **-

I know this chapter's kinda long... but it's actually an investment because I'll probably not able to write again for a long time (I hope not).

Thanks for reading.

Yours truly, Dairene Kezelghski


	2. The Culling

**Author's message: **Good day, minna-san. Sorry for the long update. It's actually my 3-week vacation before I enter my summer class. I've been lost in the world where I enjoy too many things because of vacation.

Anyways, I've posted this second chapter for this story. It's another lengthy, because it's another investment I'll be making for dates (I think) I can't post updates.

Thanks for reading.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. Still.

* * *

**Story note: **(1) **Kougen**: In this story, Kumogakure has "plateus" of ninjas serving the village. There are three kougens: the Inner (first), Middle (Second), Lower/Outer (Third) Kougen. Since Kumo is located in a mountain, the First Kougen will take the apex/center of the village, the Second Kougen just on and around the village walls (outside the village) and the Third Kougen on the outskirts of the mountain, somewhat away from the village itself. Positioning of the ninjas on the kougens is done with their rank disregarded.

* * *

The Irony of Being a Ninja

**Chapter 2 – The Culling**

The forest was disheveled in its own way, having the different types of plant life that dotted the landscape. The green mesh of trees that harbored more diverse variety of life occluded much of the senses of anyone who entered the scene. It was pretty amazing that the setting was too much comfortable but dangerous at the same time. The forest brought the unusual aura of treachery and deceit, but at the same time labored the feelings of serenity and tranquility. The wind howled quietly amongst the tall figures, its neutrality being the same danger it possessed. The humble place of unknowing and unassuming nature was one place some people fear to tread.

The other thing was the towering hills that had started to cover most of the scenery. As he went north and deeper into the forest, he was beginning to understand that he was _climbing _into an elevated location. Even though it was a slow ascent that nobody could easily notice that it was already an uphill track, Kakashi perfectly knew that the geography were starting to resemble that of Kumogakure itself. Like the trees that rooted themselves deeply into the canopy of the hilly surrounding, the hills and the small mountains were great facades that covered most of its image from the rest. It was in the purpose of the daily transition of time that some things remained obscured. It was the same as the danger that some nimble things had… and the absurdity lying in the visage of the strong.

But Hatake Kakashi wasn't some ordinary person and didn't mind the danger one place would bring – as long as he was alone and didn't need to look for some other people in his mission.

The silver-haired jounin of Konoha, the famous Copycat Kakashi, was on his way onto going into a certain village located in the northeast, almost nearing the territorial proper of Kumogakure, the Village Hidden under the Clouds. It was almost two weeks since he'd started his mission way back from Konoha, where he had received it from the Hokage herself, the Sannin Tsunade.

His mission was rather simple for a ninja of his caliber – to rescue some field officer trapped because of Kumogakure's own delusional thoughts of being outran by other villages. But from the looks of his mission parameter, it would rather seemed that Kumogakure had _finally _discovered a spy network from Konoha running under their noses, and had tracked down the spies that worked against them. But Konoha had also appeared to be prepared for it, and had moved accordingly before Kumo did. It would literally turn his mission into an upper A-class mission or low S-class for that. Even though it was a rescue mission, no one could simply downplay the severity of the matching rank of the assignment.

By his calculations, he would reach the village in a two-day period, although he doubt that he would be seeing the village in his calculated timeframe – along the great stretches of the hilly path, difficulty would come in finding the place. It was still a bother to have an extended moment in travelling and he was starting get irritated by it. He started to muse about the probability that the spy officer he was ordered to help was still alive. He knew that the mission parameters didn't come late – missions of such degree and _distance _from point of origin were always created and executed in an earlier point. It was almost standard operating procedure that missions involving great distances were formulated because of _speculation _and _early preparation _for something unexpected. In short, the mission was probably made because it was it was _thought _that there was a possibility that something bad would happen. As he continued to think about it, Kakashi discerned that the spy network of Konoha in Lightning Country might not yet been discovered and the evacuation order written in his 'mission scroll', if he could call it as such, may be a precautionary move to save the people working in the network.

As Kakashi continued to let his mind adrift across the things that were in any way related to his mission, he couldn't just let go of the matter that he came across those two weeks ago. He still had with him the letter that Kakumo presumably wrote and he intend to know _why _the man had become the representative for the Tsuchikage of all sorts. If he could remember it right, Obito – Kakumo now – never had the passion for handling things that involved too much paper works and responsibilities similar to such. He would always whine in front of their sensei about how much boring was it to create mission reports every after tasks and of how much time wasting was it. Obito really seemed that type that had low patience regarding such matters and his words and actions could easily prove that.

Well, that was years ago – when they were still in a team and their sensei was alive.

It had been different now. Obito Uchiha was now in Iwagakure, where he seemed to have nurtured a new life of his own. In fact, it seemed that Obito had changed a lot. It was in the confusion of the present time that Kakashi had meet him again – in the same battlefield that they had lived in the past. He had no idea back then that he had seen Obito one and a half months ago – though he gave him a vague name, the one the Uchiha was using now. It was when he was chasing a young Iwa shinobi that Kakumo stepped out from hiding and finally had the aura of courage to fight him dead on. It was also the time that he had revealed the truth to him – that he _survived _and was alive and well. It was also the same time that he had known the very truth that was obscured from the minds of many.

Almost six weeks ago, he had received a message from an ANBU that came directly to the Hokage that Naruto had died at the hands of the enemy ninjas while he was accompanying Jiraiya in his travel. He was _devastated_ when he heard the news – the last person he could connect his life to have finally left the world. It was the very first thought that entered his mind, as he considered Naruto as the thinnest thread that he hold on to for his sanity. It was through Naruto that he truly regained his will of fire – the will to carry life on and protect the precious lives in his village. It was through Naruto that he had seen the hope in continuing the life that he chose – the life of being a ninja. It was through him that he knew there would always be hope and change in the ninja world – a fact that the boy had proven in his young life. He had seen the boy suffered. He had seen him lose. But he had also seen him rise again. He had seen him walk again and face the multitude of challenges that lied ahead of him.

That was why he knew his heart would be broken upon hearing the gravest news he could hear in his life.

And it was quickly mended when he knew that Naruto was alive. But another fracture in his heart meandered through his feelings. Upon knowing that the young man was still living, he then found out that he was now working under another village. Obito said that boy had been there for almost two years – a good _two _years. If that was true, then what happened to the words of both Tsunade and Jiraiya that they would protect Naruto? It was decided upon that Naruto would come under Jiraiya's tutelage through his travels so that the former would be given protection from the Akatsuki. It was a fair deal – since Jiraiya was best to do the responsibility and he was the best person to protect Naruto. If Naruto had been indeed travelling with Jiraiya from the time that the two left, then what was Obito saying? What did he said about Naruto living in Iwa for two years now?

_Don't you get it? Your Hokage lied to you from the very time that Naruto had been gone! That pathetic Hokage had covered up Naruto's supposed to be death for three years and she just announced it now! _He could still remember Obito's angry countenance when he told that statement. He could literally feel the hatred of Obito as he told him the truth that the Uchiha knew. This was one thing that Kakashi could not believe in the first time. He was a loyal Konoha ninja and a claim as such was always deemed outrageous. But even though how much he wanted to doubt the assertion, he could not see through the evidences that eventually were brought to him. Seeing Naruto being alive and proudly wearing the symbol of Iwa was enough for an evidence for him to believe. Damn… there had been too many things that happened without his knowledge. And he wasn't Hatake Kakashi just to let those things pass. He would deem himself the initiative to discover the real truth behind all the events. And for sure, he needed to have the time to have a _talk _with the Godaime Hokage herself, who, according to Obito, had _basically lied _to all of them.

How he would confront her, he didn't know yet. What he knew at the present moment was that he needed to act accordingly in her presence and pretend that he hadn't known anything about the truth. He knew that once he had started to ask about it, the Hokage would forever be following him – in manners that he knew he would not like. If the worst case scenario would come, he might be branded a spy or a traitor, for knowing things that nobody should. But – hell – what was the reason why the Hokage lied to them?

Obito said he knew what happened to Naruto. He remembered it deeply. Almost three years ago, they found Naruto beaten up good by some unknown enemy. Some ANBU arrived in the scene as they were, and one of them even helped Naruto. But due to the gravity of their mission and with the assurance that Tsunade would follow them to help the ninjas who were in need of medical assistance, he and his group were forced to continue on with the mission without tending to the blond boy first. He trusted Tsunade would come to help Naruto, even though it hurt him to leave the boy at the hands of the ANBU. And so they left… only to found out what happened to Naruto in the next few days.

_Kakashi walked silently along the halls of the hospital, because he was told that Naruto was placed in an intensive care unit. He was in doubt though, since he perfectly remembered that Naruto wasn't in a state of death when they found him. When he found out about it, he immediately launched himself into the hospital to see if it was true. He would hardly believe, but he knew it was better if it was his own eyes that would see for the truth. He strolled inside the building, slightly antagonized by the smell of the disinfectant that continued to linger. He hated the smell of such things and that was partly the reason why disdained being in the hospital._

"_Kakashi," A voice called out, its owner approaching and coming from inside a room. "It's a surprise that I find you here in the hospital." The female voice said. Finally when the visage cleared in his eyes, Kakashi knew he wasn't just looking at an ordinary ninja._

"_Hokage-sama," Kakashi only muttered. "You're here?"_

"_I am a medic-nin, after all." Tsunade was able to give a small smirk, but it was instantly darkened with her sudden change of expression. She looked tousled, and her eyes clearly told him that she was not in a good condition. Her amber orbs slowly met with his lone eye, and she quickly pulled out from the seriousness that came from the contact. "I still have too many things to do in both the Hokage tower and the hospital." She said, calm voice replacing her always ordering tone. "Do you need something here? It's really a rare sight to see you here _unscathed_."_

"_I was told that Naruto is placed in an Intensive Care Unit." Kakashi answered and he didn't miss to see when Tsunade's eyes widened in a sudden alarm. The Copycat Ninja didn't mind it at first. "Were his injuries really that dangerous?"_

_Tsunade looked like she had lost the proper words to answer the Hatake. Her visible hand was shaking slightly while her lips seemed to stutter on its own. It was then Kakashi knew that the panic Tsunade showed from the first statement he said wasn't just a normal response. He continued to observe Tsunade, whose expression maintained with an unexpected falter, and then reform to serious one, and fail again. Kakashi knew that there was something wrong, and somehow he started feeling anxious that on one way or another it might be related to Naruto. His nervousness suddenly fell into nothingness when Tsunade replied. "No, his injuries weren't that bad." She frowned. "And where the hell did you get that story, by the way? Naruto was never put in that unit."_

"_Well…" Kakashi scratched the back of his head, the smile he was wearing only visible to the crinkling of the sides of his lone eye. He slowly dropped his hand and looked at Tsunade. "If he's not that worse, then can I see him?" He asked his Hokage._

"_You can't, Kakashi." Tsunade answered, her face looking at him with emotionless features._

_Kakashi was slightly taken aback. Why couldn't he have any visit to his student? "Hokage-sama, Naruto is my student. If he really isn't in a bad condition, then you can let me see him."_

"_I told you he isn't in a bad condition. But you really can't see him, Kakashi."_

"_And why is that?"_

"_He's out of the village."_

"_What?!" Kakashi almost yelled towards Tsunade. "You let him out of the village on the time he needs recovering?!"_

"_Kakashi, you don't need to worry." Tsunade answered, slightly not minding the almost outburst from the jounin. "As I've told you, Naruto didn't receive any critical injury. Actually, when I brought him here, he was already up and running after the day." The Hokage frowned faintly, which Kakashi didn't miss as well. She walked nearer to a bench located near a window and sat there. She tilted her head towards the scenery seen through the windowpane, observing Konoha from inside. She slowly looked back at Kakashi, observing the younger one. "You know how much Naruto is in danger now."_

"_Hai." Kakashi answered hastily. "Akatsuki is on his _tail_ now." An unintended pun in which Tsunade smirked at. But, somehow, Kakashi didn't like the way his Hokage was responding at his remarks, and how she was faring in their conversation. He was finding Tsunade so _strange _that time._

"_Jiraiya had decided that Naruto needed to learn to protect himself from Akatsuki." Tsunade just said, earning herself the vaguely surprised expression from Kakashi. The frequently bored face suddenly twisted into some figure of indiscernible emotion – whether be it annoyance, worry, or disappointment, Tsunade could not care for the moment. "Jiraiya had brought him outside the village."_

"_How long?" Kakashi responded. Even though how much he hid it, his tone was laced with unexplainable sadness._

"_Until Jiraiya deems Naruto capable of protecting himself," Tsunade replied. "I trust Jiraiya, and I want to protect Naruto from those that will harm him." She said, looking at Kakashi's lone eye. "I will want to try to risk things – even though how much aggravating for me to let Naruto leave Konoha, away from my own protection." The Hokage stood up from her chair and opened the window, inhaling the fresh air that came over from the green trees. She leaned on the sill, still retaining her focus towards the silver-haired ninja. "Jiraiya and I decided that it will be best for Naruto…" her face turned angry. "And to satisfy the wimpy tails of the council."_

"_So the council is partly responsible for Naruto being out of Konoha?" Kakashi asked. "Why am I not surprised?"_

"_They thought Naruto will only bring Akatsuki towards Konoha." She gritted her teeth. "They thought that as long as Naruto stays inside the village, he will only draw the attention of Akatsuki towards Konoha. They said we can't risk that."_

"_That's why you let him out?"_

"_Honestly, I want to punch you in your face for indirectly telling me that I don't have the capability to protect Naruto." Tsunade eyed Kakashi dangerously. "But you are right. Yet, I want to retell you that I trust Jiraiya. I know he will not let Naruto be in danger."_

"_Alright." Kakashi closed his eyes and turned away from Tsunade. "I'll just tell Sakura that Naruto is out with Jiraiya for training." He started walking away from his Hokage. He had both of his hands inside his pocket, his mind not in the mood to take out the book hidden in his vest. That time, he didn't mind reading his favorite book – his mind too focused concerning the present happenings related to his student. He needed to think straightly; there were a lot of things he needed to do – now that he knew he would finally leave his genin students to the hands of the sannin._

_He took a final glance back at Tsunade. He was surprised to see a shiny blue crystal hanging loose in her hand._

If Naruto was indeed together with Jiraiya, then he was sure Naruto would be safe. But, as the fact had already been shouting directly into his ear, one conclusion could only be formed through the progression of events and truths being uncovered – if Tsunade knew, then Jiraiya _must _too. Hell, he should have thought of that from the point when Obito was beginning to tell him things. If that was the case, the only viable scenario he could come up in his mind was that Jiraiya and Tsunade had _fabricated _the whole Naruto-was-out-of-the-village-training thing. Then, _how the hell Tsunade and Jiraiya have no idea of Naruto's whereabouts?_

It was making his head achy, even though he hadn't encountered any enemies yet. The whole matter was hammering his head, and he knew he needed to find the right nail for the thrashing to stop. He needed the truth but the truth seemed to be on the other side of the battlefield – in Iwagakure. Why in the world did he need to fight just to find out the truth? He was slightly sure that Obito would tell him what he wanted, but it was no easy task to go into a seemingly hostile village just to ask a question.

* * *

Six against one? Seriously, who would even want that type of disadvantage in a ninja fight?

As Umino Iruka continued to ponder at the question he had formulated from the time their fight started, he would already answer that he was one of the proudest ninjas that didn't want to be involved in such handicap. Although, as his situation served him, he could not just answer it as if it was a trivial question. Currently, he was involved in a fight as such, and he was simply left with a two choices for him to choose – fight and hope to survive, or run and wade it out. But as the logical ninja as he was, he could simply summarize the option into two _brief _and _direct_ choices – to _live _or to _die_.

He was a ninja loyal to Konoha and its people – he chose to _live_.

He was currently fighting three of the six people that ambushed him in the civilian village of Hajimegakure some distance away now. From the time one of them nudged a kunai into his abdomen, he knew it would totally end up in a fight. But since he didn't want to involve the lives of the innocent people in the village, his battle tactic turned out into a 'hit-and-run' basis – he would bait out his pursuers out of the village, take them one-on-one, and run again. It was one of the best methods he could muster in his mind, since he was _freakin_' alone in the field and he could not risk confronting all of them.

Well, time to play as a courageous ninja again.

---

The Lightning Country's daimyo was said to be panicking about something nobody else knew about. It was one of the latest information field ninjas of Kumogakure could obtain, and it was one of the few things that could appease their clouded mind. What they just knew was that their superiors were frantic about the existence of a spy network in their country, and their intention was to remove this network immediately from the lands. Due to this goal, many of Kumogakure's field ninjas were quickly scattered across the borders of Lightning Country, in collaboration with some _concerned _civilian villages. It was an intriguing task, but it had proven itself annoying as well.

Raima was one unfortunate ninja that was sent together with multitudes of bands of ninjas throughout the territory. He was a chuunin from the third kougen(1) from the Raikage's post, meaning that he was one of the ninjas that stayed far off from the high mountains where Kumogakure was situated. Since they were the one nearest to the lower grounds, they were the one sent to attain the _efficiency_ partof the mission. Being part of the third kougen ninjas were not as easy as everyone in Kumogakure thought – they were being utilized more as _messengers _and as those that could only serve as reconnaissance. Raima actually hated being part of the third kougen but he had no choice; being promoted into a higher kougen required hard work and recognition.

"Raima," A fellow Kumogakure ninja called him from behind. "We lost Umino again."

Raima spat to the ground, gritting afterwards due to irritation. He looked back towards his ally and signaled to him to leave again. He was splendidly annoyed because of the Konoha chuunin. He couldn't understand; the man was merely a chuunin, a non-fighting one of all sorts. But how could he evade them so easily? Through their pursuit to capture the Umino, he'd already lost three of his people. Not that they were dead; they were just incapacitated to the limit that they'd need to be left behind as for them not to become additional burden. He knew that the intelligence given to them were double-checked – _triple-checked_ by his own people – so that failure to capture the said chuunin would not happen.

The man was a Konoha Academy teacher; surely, mastery over the basic skills of a ninja would be his advantage. But that was the only advantage they could seek from him. It was already the real world – the world outside the confines of his village, a world where chaos was real. He couldn't understand how such mongrel could survive through their onslaught, where they were stronger and more knowledgeable.

Or maybe…

"Or maybe I'm just underestimating you." Raima said aloud, attracting the attention of the Kumo ninja who had just started walking away. "Umino, you little bastard!" Raima whirled and threw a kunai towards the ninja.

"What are you talking about, Raima!" The ninja answered. "It's me, Kaito!"

"I've had enough of this!" Raima shouted, charging towards the ninja named Kaito. He revealed more kunais in his hand, preparing himself to throw the weapons to the man. Kaito easily parried the attack, but felt the looming presence of lightning when he landed from a spot away from where he came from. He quickly rolled away from the place, and luckily evaded a lightning surge that formed just beneath him. In a crouched position, he raised his head up and looked at Raima, only to see that the ninja was gone in his location.

_Kuso… _Kaito cursed in his mind, trying to track any presence around. He was in a disadvantageous position, and he knew he needed to find Raima immediately, or he'd bid the world goodbye in the next few second. He quickly stood up from crouching; as he slid his hand in his kunai holster in a very quick manner only ninjas could see. He surveyed the area for Raima; his hand nervously twitching that almost disturbed his hold of his own kunai. He continued to glance around the surrounding, his eyelids being flooded with sweat. After scanning the entire vicinity through his line of sight, Kaito knew that he had found him. _Behind me!_

"You're dead!" Raima plunged his kunai towards Kaito's direction, not minding if it would hit the latter or not, since he had another weapon on his other hand. Kaito just pushed off Raima's hand away, effectively swatting away the kunai. Raima jumped backwards and threw another towards Kaito, he evaded by simply moving away. Just as when Kaito was going to attack, he suddenly felt a blast of heat that whipped on his back. He could sense that his vest was burning, since the sensation was starting to smolder him. Little did he know that he was already thrown due to the force of the blast that came from the explosion.

Upon his descent to the ground, Raima quickly went over where Kaito fell. He took hold of the other's weakened body.

"You will not escape," Raima's voice suddenly became crisp with the tone of death as he restrained Kaito using his own body. He disabled the other man's hands and feet with his own extremities, rendering both of them in a stalemated position. Raima only tightened his hold when Kaito was struggling to escape.

"Raima, are you insane?! It's really me! I'm Kaito!" The ninja continued to persuade Raima.

"Shut the hell up!" Raima replied. "Knowing that you are a master of all the basic ninja skills, I learned that I already _underestimated _you from the start, Umino." He said. "_Henge _will not be too hard for you, right? So drop the stupid henge now!"

"Raima! I'm not the Umino! You must––" Kaito's words were cut off when a stream of lightning impaled both him and Raima's body. He looked – his eyes bewildered – towards Raima, who was grinning devilishly back at him. The lightning had already deadened his senses, as he felt no sensation from the attack. He could only see his own blood pooling around him. He tried to cover the grave wound in his abdomen, but to no avail. His eyes suddenly darkened – his lids slowly closing as his body started to fell limp. Before his body fell to the ground, Raima already vanished in a cloud of smoke.

"You can't mock me, Umino." A voice resonated from the background, summoning another body from the thick trees. "Even though how great at you with that ninjutsu, you will never fool me." Raima spoke, looking at the dead body of Kaito. "I know it's a fool's mind to _underestimate_ an enemy but I will not fall for that."

"The human mind is such an imaginative thing, ne, Raima-san?" Someone spoke from the trees, garnering the attention of the shocked Kumo-nin. "I didn't expect that you have mistaken him." The figure slowly moved out from the shroud of trees, his expression emotionless as he observed the dead body of Kaito. "The mind really lets instinct takeover when its survival is on the line."

"You?" Raima took a look on the face of newcomer, his horror suddenly overwhelming the staunchness of his figure. He took a final glance back at Kaito's body, which only continued to bleed. _The body should have changed back the original form! _He shouted in his mind. _Could it be…?_

The ninja just shrugged at his words, as he tried to observe Raima's expression. "I can't blame you for what you did. We live in a world where fighting and skirmishes seem endless. Of course, it's tough luck to have killed your own comrade, but it's one of the exemptions in the battlefield." The ninja continued to walk slowly towards the Kumo-nin. "Life is harsh to all of us." He pulled a kunai from his pouch and started twirling it expertly in his right hand. "Don't worry; history would never always remember how bad your success went."

"You bastard!" Raima shouted. "You killed one of my friends-!"

"Technically, it was you who killed your friend." The man answered. "You are indeed correct that you should never underestimate your enemy, even though how weak they seem to look. Nevertheless, what surprised me was the _overestimation_ of the enemy."

"You're a monster!"

"I am not." The man suddenly stopped talking, his eyes darting towards a direction far off from their location. Trying to feel the new presence that was slowly coming into their place, the man knew it was something he wasn't expecting for. Without further ado, the man suddenly jumped out from his spot, going back to the safety of hiding into the trees, not minding if Raima would be following him or not.

* * *

Kakashi need not to see the place to prove that there had been some very minor skirmish that happened near in his location. Together with his mission parameters, although not clearly stated, was the knowledge that every ensuing fight by the way of his task would mean that either he was already nearing his destination or danger was chasing him. He knew that from then on, he needed to be more careful. Although it merely suggested him to be warier, it so appeared to him that it might have been one of the points that would lead him to his goal. It was already uncanny that a fight just suddenly appeared in Lightning Country's border, unless the people involved were rogues. But it was _Lightning_, and it had _Kumogakure _in it. As memory could serve, Kumogakure would always be unforgiving towards enemy ninjas and _rogues_, and they maintained the reputation of Lightning as a country that was never meant for rogue to live in.

Of course, the possibility of an internal conflict would be possible, although it was almost one in a hundred thousand.

Unless, it was related to Konoha's spy network over Lightning. Even though he wanted to evade danger and fights while in a foreign country, Kakashi's mind would not let him just step away from it. He clearly wanted to finish the mission, and so he would risk the chance just to take a peek if the fight that had ensued was related to his mission.

With a decision in mind, Kakashi sped off towards the direction of the fight, slightly meandering away from the course of his destination. After all, he could really use some time to freshen up his skills.

* * *

He was down with almost ten kunais, five exploding tags, six shuriken, a yard of wire, and other items that could not be counted as suitable weapon for an ongoing fight. Iruka Umino retreated from the attacks of the last three ninjas from the Kumo group and he swore that never again he would try to fight off a ninja of a great number. He was already low on chakra and he already decided that he would only use it for evasive jutsus and nothing else. Somehow, he had settled on his plan that he could also use those same jutsus while fighting the enemies. Before he could get more shurikens for another round of attack, he heard the whizzes of flying kunais headed to his location. He used kawarimi to replace himself to another position away from his former one.

Discounting the fact that his chakra was already very low, Umino Iruka also had known that his injuries were no advantage for him. He had cuts all around his body – it was already a miracle that his standard chuunin uniform was still holding. He had a major wound on his left deltoid, and the trickling blood from his calf muscles had warned him that the wound was no better even with some dependable bandages. _Damn, the blood has spot on the gauze_, he thought. _I need to finish this, if I want to live._

A kunai past flew him and made a wild turn around a tree, surprising the chuunin. Iruka's reflexes failed in the sudden bewilderment but he finally realized what made the kunai turned that way – it was connected to a wire that already started to wrap around his body. Knowing that he would barely have time to extricate from the wire, all that he did was to raise his hands away from the wire. Even though the wire caught him and bound around his torso, he had his hands free. In one flick of his wrist, he had cut the wires with a kunai. He quickly jumped out of the way when he felt that fire was running through the wire.

_That was close_, he thought as he took a final glance at the fire-covered wire. He had only failed to escape the foot that collided with his face, sending him to the ground in full force. He slid to the ground as he fell, his shoulder receiving the full power of his descent. It took him some seconds to recover. He used his hands to support his body, slowly pushing himself from the ground. His eyes only widened in surprise when he felt the presence of three ninjas standing nearby. _Ah… I wish I have more time teaching those students_, it was his thought before smiling weakly to himself.

---

Hatake Kakashi didn't fail to miss the very first thing he had seen at the person he saw struck down by those Kumogakure ninjas – the hitai-ate, the forehead protector of Konoha. It suddenly pushed his whole body and mind to the place, suddenly feeling the rush of rage upon knowing that it was a fellow ninja that was being attacked. He launched a full barrage of shuriken towards the Kumogakure ninjas on the scene, before he used a shunshin to surprise them.

To him, having a fellow ninja being pursued by enemy ninjas was one of the things that made him crave for the defeat of the adversary. He knew that once he reached that spot where he would make his first attack, the enemy was _doomed_.

He appeared beside the fallen ninja, but he wasn't able to discern the latter's identity. Not having the time to know who the Konoha ninja was, Kakashi decided that it was best to start his assault against the enemy. He disappeared in another puff of clouds and leaves, startling again the Kumo ninja that was stunned by his sudden arrival. He instantly appeared behind Raima, which everyone noticed first – until every one of the enemy ninjas felt that they had the very same presence behind them.

Simultaneously, all of them whirled behind, making a failed attempt to attack the person now in their rear. "He's using clones!" One of the ninjas shouted, aiming for Kakashi. He only failed to realize that he must first know where the real body was, as he was knocked back due to his slowed thinking.

Not waiting for the ninja to recover, Kakashi attacked the enemy. With a high kick that sent the ninja flying in the air, followed by another one that plunged the enemy to the ground, Kakashi watched how the ninja fell to the canopy of the forest. He quickly used another shunshin near the ninja, immobilizing by hitting him hardly at the back of his neck.

_One down._

Kakashi was about to jump again towards another enemy when he saw another limp and unconscious body fell near the first ninja he'd disabled. He smiled to himself, correcting, _Oops… Two down._

And to Raima, he knew the visage that had attacked him from behind, that when he already uncovered the identity of the newcomer from his memories; he discerned that it would finally ne the end.

His world faded black.

* * *

"Hatake-san?"

The weak voice attracted the attention of the silver-haired ninja, after he had finished tying the three bodies of the Kumo ninjas. Officially, Konohagakure and Kumogakure had not been into some sort of fighting for years, maintaining the small and nimble thread called peace. And to Kakashi, it meant that there was a _dire _need _not _to _kill_ those ninjas. If he remembered it right back almost six weeks ago, almost the same event happened that caused a total war that involved _four _ninja villages. It was when Kusagakure act _dumbly _enough that they'd killed some Takigakure ninjas just because they _thought_ the latter were violating their territorialities. What happened after then? They'd suffered half of their village destroyed because Takigakure retaliated to them by declaring war.

And it was also a dumb decision for Takigakure to declare war because they thought that the death of their ninjas required the destruction of one village.

But, honestly, he could not blame Takigakure for doing such. According to the reports and intelligence he got from some _trustworthy _ANBUs and the debriefings done by the Hokage herself, it was then discovered that Takigakure had been indeed planning upon the invasion of Kusagakure. It was then luck was at their side that such event had happened, and used the death of their comrades as a pretext for their war. It was still a war that was made for still unknown reasons, but everyone was eventually relieved that it was quickly quelled. Kami knew how much damage it would have done if it wasn't stopped – the Hokage already told him that Taki might have launched an attack towards the capital of Fire Country if their campaign over Kusa went with success.

He immediately took a glance towards the ninja, since he also delayed himself into identifying who that fellow ninja was. There was also a hidden concern because injuries were inevitable. He could swear that he took a double-take when he had the recognition of the ninja.

"Umino-san?" He sounded bewildered, which Iruka failed not to miss, even though he was already the suffering the fatigue after the heightened levels of adrenaline.

"It's surprising to find you here," Iruka said, chuckling hoarsely.

"You're injured." Kakashi stated the obvious. "Let me help you with that."

"No; I'm fine." Iruka waved off the approaching Kakashi. "I know you were sent here because you have a mission." He said, sitting comfortably at the ground, opening up his pack of medical supplies. "I thank you for helping me defeat those ninjas," he didn't fail to express his gratitude towards the silver-haired ninja. He started tending off his injuries, wincing at spots where the antiseptic stung his wounds. He just saw that the Hatake was examining him from afar, yet he just continued nursing for himself.

"What were you doing here, Umino-san?" The question was thrown.

"I tried to lure out those ninjas away from the civilian village where I am having a mission." Iruka answered. "Damn, I hope those ninjas were not yet visited by wild animals; I knew I should have left them in safe locations." The second part of the statement was muttered in a soft voice, but Kakashi heard it clearly.

"Who?"

"Uh… sorry?"

"The ninjas you were talking about."

"They're their comrades," Iruka answered. "The other three,"

_Three?_ Kakashi thought, almost doubtful. _He'd defeated three ninjas before confronting these people I defeated? _Although for his own reasoning he would find the enemy _weak _against his expertise, Kakashi was slightly amazed that a chuunin and an Academy Instructor such as Umino had fend for himself against some numerous adversaries. He was able to discern that the people he'd just confronted were of chuunin level, although it would _not _decrease the fact that the academy sensei had just fought off almost _six _of them – if the first three he had defeated were of the same level as those that he overwhelmed. It was surprising to find out that the chuunin were capable, just by himself. _Wait_…

"You're alone?" It was the sudden recognition that Kakashi had.

"Even though I work at the Academy, it doesn't mean that I'm not capable as a ninja, Hatake-san." Iruka told it in a neutral tone, but Kakashi felt the hidden animosity in his answer.

"I'm not referring about anything, Umino-san." He was blunt as always. "I'm just surprised to find you alone in a foreign country. A solo mission?"

Iruka flushed red – annoyed that Kakashi just waved off his resentment over his almost derogatory statement. "It seems that you are having one as well, Hatake-san." At that point, the sensei was already bandaging himself and replacing the ones that were already soaked in blood. Cleaned and slightly healed, Iruka stood from the ground, not failing to make an aggressive stature as to keep off the Hatake somehow away. "I'm fine off by myself now. You should go and return to the mission you are attending to."

"Umino-san," Kakashi was going to protest, but he saw that there was a negative scrunch forming in his face.

"Hatake-san, I'll be honest with you – I'd rather not you _discretely _telling me that I can't handle myself." Iruka said with pure courage and vexation. "Just go on with your mission and be done with it." He started walking away from Kakashi but paused abruptly. "I thank you again." He resumed striding away.

Hatake Kakashi was bewildered.

And what was he again? A _Jounin_?

* * *

He'd remember that time when one _dared _to voice out _someone_'s ideas when he had decided that he would let his students join the upcoming chuunin exam almost three years ago. He'd remember how he easily trounced that very same person into silence, when he claimed that he had the right to decide what upon his _soldiers_. He was a Jounin, and he wouldn't let someone stood against his decision. Harsh he may was back then, but he really had the point to do so.

They were his students, technically. He'd seen them train, he'd seen them act in a mission, and he'd seen them work together. He'd silently assessed those students of his, and he was trying his best to come up with a best solution for all of them – for all of them to improve and be a very great genin team. With all the activities and missions that they'd went into together, Kakashi had made a slow progress into knowing who really his students were. He'd made an unhurried but sure action to truly know his students, so that he could understand them better. It was no easy task that he did, but he'd seen the fruits of what he planned.

That was why, with his whole confidence, he deemed that his students could participate in the chuunin exams that year. He believed that he had known his students – their strength and weakness, their capabilities and what they lacked. And that was the reason why he had made the decision. Surely, it looked like a hasty decision – but he knew much better… right?

* * *

"Obito, just what are you doing?" A blond haired man looked at the teen with curious eyes, as he poked the sizzling pork in the grill with his chopsticks. He continued to jab the pieces of meats, turning them to sides as to cook them evenly, all at the same time observing the young man do something that he couldn't really guess what. "Well?" He persisted prying at the Uchiha, when he received no answer at all. _So weird for the loudmouth to be focused on what he's doing…_ He thought.

Kakashi darted his eyes towards the other one, who was unluckily sat opposite to the table. With his position, he could easily look at the Obito was doing… since the Uchiha was just in front of him. He still had his nonchalant features, shrugging off what Obito was doing, when he decided that there wasn't anything interesting in it. He just intently stared at the meat that crackled weakly above the hot metal plate. He wasn't hungry; he just didn't know what to do when their sensei brought them to the barbecue place for almost no apparent reason. Although, Kakashi felt something weird. He couldn't just discern what.

Rin sat beside Kakashi, trying to suppress the emotion that bathed her that time. At least, she was trying to be _human_ with the opportunity to be near the man she had felt something to. Although she could deny the strange feeling, Rin was proud that at least she wasn't becoming one of those females that ran amok and deliberate of their own feelings and infatuation. She was trying to be _civil_ and _normal_, at least. Like the people together with her in that small and newly opened barbecue place, she could not deny the presence of awkwardness that lingered in the atmosphere. The noises that could be heard were only from the meat that was slowly being cooked, and the chatter of some people staying at the same place and those passersby.

"Is it just me," their sensei tried to speak again, "or is there really something strange going on here?" He chuckled, slightly arousing Kakashi from his bored look and making Rin flinch with slight humor. Obito looked up for a while, and then proceeded in working with the material he'd brought with him. Their sensei hummed with a curious tone, flitting his eyes at Obito. "Hey, Obito…" He slowly brought his right index finger nearer to the Uchiha, pausing when it was just some fingerbreadths away from his body. Seeing that the teen seemed not to notice the arrival of his finger, their sensei decided to nudge Obito's waist in a strong prod.

"GAH!!!" Obito flinch in the sudden stimulus, feeling how the brawny shove of his sensei's finger brought him a ticklish sensation that accumulated in a single spot. It hurt, actually, but he could not fail to bring a smile to his lips when the 'ticklish' part of his sensei's _attack_ reached his nerves. He pointed an accusing finger towards his sensei, trying to straighten up his face. "Hey, sensei! You shouldn't be doing that!"

"You're too serious." His sensei answered, waving off Obito's finger away. "Even Kakashi's _worried _about you." Their sensei didn't fail to see Kakashi's eye widened and then narrowed instantly, a glare of daggers sent to his direction.

"Sensei, that Kakashi has an emotion of a rock," Obito answered with reservation. No more came from him.

Which was still weird.

"You know, it's very surprising to see a slight change in behavior can actually affect the whole group." Their sensei observed, smiling as to enlighten up the mood of the group – which he seemed to fail. Obito looked at his sensei, looking inquisitive about what he was saying. "I mean, Obito, look; can't you see that we're feeling a slight jumpy and _eerie_ that you are silently doing something?"

"I thought you better liked me 'shutting up' eh?" Obito snickered. It was a humorous statement from the Uchiha, but it actually stung in Rin's and even Kakashi's perspective.

"So… what are you doing?" It was Rin who talked. "Care to share us?"

"Of course, Rin!" Obito answered energetically, much to the whole team's delight. "Actually, my mom had something to do with this." He scratched his head, waiting for some fits of laugh from his team. Surprised that there was none, he continued telling his tale. "When she was rummaging through the house, she said she had found some scrolls that belonged to our family. She said it was a good idea to give it to me. After handing it to me, she gave me no word except 'discover it yourself.'" He grinned. "She also said that I may even be rewarded if I discover what she wanted me to."

"And have you had any idea what is it?" Their sensei asked.

"I had no idea from the first two days, until I tried to research about it." He blushed when he was complemented by Rin and his sensei for doing something _productive_. "I recently found out that this scroll was actually the compilation of coded types of _encryptions_ used by the clan."

"Can we take a peek?" His sensei asked, grinning at him with slight astonishment. Obito quickly handed him the scroll. Skimming along some lines, he started to nod at some words and paragraphs, and then smiled successfully when he decided to give it back to Obito. "I get it."

"I want to see it too." Rin said, and Obito handed it to her as well.

Rin (and Kakashi) started to scan around the scroll. After some seconds, her brows met in a knit, signifying that she seemed to have misunderstood the scroll. Kakashi saw it as well, entirely aghast at first, but finally understood – even the little of it – what the scroll was intended to. She returned it with curious eyes over Obito. "It's a…" she paused, hesitated to continue. "Children's story."

"I know!" Obito replied, much to the additional confusion over Rin's mind.

"As Obito stated it earlier, it's a _coded types _of _encryptions_." Their sensei spoke. "So, have you discovered them so far?" He asked the Uchiha.

"Of course!" He replied. "I've found _seventeen _of them! Although I feel that there is more."

"There is," his sensei said – sarcastically.

"Eh?" Obito sounded too doubtful. "Don't tell me you've spotted all of them in that instant!"

"I'm not telling, but I saw more than _twenty-five_, actually." He smiled, but then noticed Obito's burrowing brows. "Don't be frustrated; I also write encrypted messages – that's why I know a lot of them." He ruffled Obito's hair as to decrease the sudden tension building up within the teen. "Share them one."

"Alright…" Obito tried to remove his sensei's hand away from his head. "Ah, this one!" He almost exclaimed. "This type is one of my favorites already." He held the scroll using his left hand in front of them, while he used his free hand and started sliding it across the material. "See this picture drawn inside the layout of the paragraph?" Rin nodded. Kakashi just stared. "Look at the sentence was compressed right because the drawing used up much space… as I discovered, this was intended so as to pinpoint the particular words that contained some message. Here, I'm going to read it out." He turned the scroll facing him, and read the line. "…_since people own the artist wages, he assumed labor engagement_…" Obito read the short line.

"What about it?" Rin asked.

"Actually, it's the code." Obito replied. "This type of encryption used the first letters of every word in the statement, to hide the real message. In this," Obito revealed a pencil and a blank piece of paper, "the initial letters would be: SPOTAWHALE." He grinned to them. "Does not make any sense, although it's obvious you can make out something from that in the first glance, right?" He wrote the letters next to each other in the paper.

"Yes," Rin answered, still confused. "It probably went like 'SPOT A WHALE.'" She looked at Obito. "I still can't understand."

"This is not something trivial." Their sensei suddenly intervened. "It is very useful when there are skirmishes and wars." He explained. "In the Intelligence field, a 'whale' meant a group of ninja more than or equal to a hundred units of ninjas. In that code, it meant that, possibly, some reconnaissance ninjas spotted a group of ninjas that number and sent a warning using that coded message. Even though it could be intercepted, it isn't easy to decode it – especially it didn't much dwell in encryption by _numbers_ and logical patterns." He saw the amazed faces of Rin and Kakashi (although still hidden) upon his explanation, while Obito grinned proudly.

"It's my favorite!" Obito announced.

---

Kakashi woke up.

It wasn't the nightmare that he'd usually have at Konoha, and he was glad that it wasn't something so bothering.

He chose to stay resting at night before continuing to his destination, since the fight he had participated lately had also drained him some chakra that he deemed would be valuable in his nearing destination. He picked a location that was so hidden and obscured that he was actually tempted to sleep. And when he finally went adrift to sleep, a dream quickly played in his mind.

It was one of the events that had happened in the past, the times even before they participated in the Third Great Ninja War. It were the weird times that their sensei would sound nice that he ended up treating them into the barbecue stall inside the walls of Konoha. It had actually felt good that he had the dream and it was so new to him that he felt somehow happy rather than the normal feeling of regret and guilt whenever he had such dreams. That time when he opened his eyes, he felt relieved of the things that burdened him. He felt his feelings were lightened. It was very awkward… until his eyes went bloodshot when he finally realized that there was something more in his dream.

He quickly pulled out a scroll in his vest and opened in such a manner that could have destroyed the fragile paper itself. He rescanned the paper, reading the contents again.

---

_We continue to affirm Iwagakure's decision on attacking Takigakure as a precautionary and as a military action to suppress the threat against the Country of Earth. The Country of Earth is merely concerned about its safety, and Iwagakure is pledged to help in the country's problem, since it also posed as a threat to the village._

_We wish to clarify that Iwagakure's move is not an act of aggression. We are only focused on protecting the people and that is our main goal in the subjugation of Takigakure. We did not attempt to test our mettle against Takigakure, but out attack had been the product of our regard to the continuity of peace in our lands. We hope that Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaf, do not see our action as an indiscriminate act to show our capabilities or just to conquer more territories._

_ Getting to grieve respectfully as soon; solemn need and right uttered. To ought something, gift indomitable, for the few risks usurped._

---

He clearly remembered in his dream.

_It's my favorite!_ He could clearly see Obito almost jump in happiness.

_Your favorite, huh?_ Kakashi thought as he started to use the same method Obito showed them in the past.

_On to the first paragraph_, he told his mind and he quickly plucked the initial letters of those words written in the paragraph. _WCTAID_… Kakashi listed the letters in his mind but eventually found that the combination made no sense. The second sentence of the same paragraph appeared nil of some vital message. He jumped to the second paragraph were he started to list again. _WWTCTI…_ Like the first paragraph, it was senseless, as well as the second sentence, the third, and the fourth.

With doubt, he started to fill in on the third paragraph.

_GTGRA…_ When he started, he almost succumbed in defeat when he seemed to see that it made no sense as well. Maybe he was just too hopeful that he knew that the message was from Obito, and thought that his old teammate was going to tell him something important. He slumped in defeat, realizing that the message was intended to be read by the Hokage, _not _for him. He almost chuckled that he had created a false hope… maybe he was just too relieved to know that Obito was alive. Well, he knew he couldn't blame himself.

With nothing in motivation, Kakashi had just decided to continue to pull out those initial letters, still thinking how his dream had brought him too much hope.

_GTGRASSNARUTOSGIFTFRU._

He almost fell when he finally found something that made sense. His blood rushing upon the recent development, he quickly revealed a writing material and a paper out of his backpack. He intended to sort out the sense out of the code, and he quickly started to work on it.

_GT-GRASS-NARUTOS-GIFT-FRU_

He separated the letters that made sense when put together, away from random letters that seemed erratic. As he continued to ponder about what he discovered, he could not help but smile under his mask, remembering how Obito was able to let it slip under the Hokage's eyes. As always, Obito had surprised him for another time, and he couldn't almost hold off a snicker about the _coded message _that he wrote on an _official message _to the Hokage. _That knucklehead… he's too much risky… _After he had finally realized that some letters were somewhat aimed to left out, he finished the message as he wrote in the paper:

_Go To GRASS; NARUTO haS GIFT FoR U._

With renewed vigor to finish his mission more quickly, Kakashi sped off towards the location of his mission.

* * *

**Iwagakure, 0600hours**

"Naruto," Kakumo called, looking with a frown to his boy. "You know, Team Obsidian is asking me about you for almost one and half month already." He said, motioning near the young man. "They've told me you still not meet them after the war with Takigakure has ended." Kakumo sighed when Naruto still didn't have any response towards his message relayed by Team Obsidian. "They're just worried about you."

"Obito-ojisan," Naruto finally answered, gazing at the older with very tired eyes. "I'm exhausted. Can you please leave me for a while?" He returned looking outside the apartment where he was staying at, watching the tower spires of Iwagakure that stood almost all along the borders of the village. He sat on a chair located near the window, his mind almost spacing out. He felt that his ojisan was moving towards him, and he made no attempt to make another request for him to be left alone. He was so tired that he couldn't make any effort to make a resistance over the violation of his simple request.

Kakumo stopped when he was already just beside Naruto, taking a short glance of that his boy was looking at. He returned his eyes towards the blonde, as he rose his right hand on top of Naruto's head, making a gentle tap before resting it for a brief period. "Naruto," he started to speak, not actually minding if Naruto didn't like how he held him. "They just care for you, as do _I _for you. You have heard so many times from me how much I wanted to protect you that you don't even understand why I work so hard for that. I just don't really want you hurt… You know, you can tell me everything that's been bothering you. I'll make no prejudice of it. I'll always be your ojisan…" He stopped but let his hand rest for a while on top of Naruto's head. For almost a minute, Kakumo and Naruto stayed that way, both looking at scenery presented as Iwa. Finally, Kakumo's hand slowly slid off from his head and let it fall onto the boys shoulder, giving it another tap. "I'll be going now."

Naruto knew that his ojisan was out of the room as soon as he heard the door of his little apartment closed. He wished that he could have told his problem to Obito.

---

"What is the verdict?" A man suddenly blocked Kakumo's way, as soon as the man had returned at the Tsuchikage's tower spire. Kakumo had a neutral expression in his mind, looking at the visage of the ninja that stopped him in his steps.

"I could disagree to what you've been telling me." Kakumo spoke. "It seemed true enough that Naruto wasn't minding Team Obsidian – it has been six weeks." He looked slightly annoyed at the other one. "I don't have a choice, but it's time to remove the people the future – _he _– will not need."

"You mean?"

"Yes."

* * *

- **End of Chapter **-

Thanks for reading another long chapter. I really appreciate that people read my FanFic. Thank you.

Truly yours, Dairene Kezelzghski


	3. Suspicions

**Author's message: **I know I have not updated for more than a month. I'm sorry for this very late update. I had classes in my summer vacation.

Fortunately, this is the last of my "super chapters". From then on, I'll be returning to a shorter chapters.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

* * *

The Irony of Being a Ninja

**Chapter 3 – Suspicions**

"Ibiki, I'm really concerned that you are saying these _things_ to me." Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage of Konoha, looked startled at first before saying a sentence that was dried up of emotions. Even though devoid of feelings, the woman looked curious and worried upon the present progression of things, of things that would never be easily be liked by the village leader. She put a stern gaze over the other male, scrutinizing that man that was the head of ANBU Torture and Interrogation Force. Her look almost demanded more explanations from him, and Ibiki really wasn't sure if he would reveal everything that he had known from their researches.

"Tsunade-sama, I really do not ask you to believe what is written in that report. Personally, I also do _not _believe in that _thing_." Ibiki added, almost snorting out the latter part of his statement. Ibiki Morino glanced over the seeming frail form of the Hokage, noticing the tired expressions of the woman. It had been six weeks since the war between Iwagakure and Takigakure had ended, but it looked like that Tsunade was still in a trance of worry. Even though he didn't need to have an observer to look out for the sannin, he eventually knew that she was suffering another round of insomniac nights. _She's overworked_, he thought, observing the bags under the woman's eyes. _Even for a Hokage who's understood to be busy, it's never always good to have a _tired _Hokage working on her post_.

"That's unexpected of you," Tsunade alarmed Ibiki with her deep and serious tone, almost stunning the man to his feet. Yet, it was still part of the growing curiosity in his mind – there weren't so much to worry about, but it was obviously showing that she was being busy. Although the existing tension over Waterfall could be credited for the growing anxiety building inside Tsunade, Ibiki could still not fathom on what was bothering her. "I brought you this task because I thought you'll be handling me some _solid _information."

It did not fail to amuse him how such a woman could bring so much command before her knees. Ibiki smiled weakly, quickly grasping the proper answer for the damaging respond from the kage. "Hokage-sama," he started by addressing her in a more formal manner, "if you might want to remember, even though the Torture and Interrogation Force is under the Intelligence Division, my line of work is still very different to those _spies_." He replied with a hidden force, an invisible smite Ibiki wished that the Hokage would not distinguish. He frowned when he saw Tsunade's lips quiver in a look that told him the woman was irritated by his answer. "Tsunade-sama, I'm not questioning your decision, but I really am surprised and _troubled _that you handed me the task."

"I can't just trust anybody," Tsunade answered, suddenly bringing her thumb and unceremoniously biting the side of her nails. The sannin knew it wasn't her mannerism, but the growing uneasiness inside her was taking toll of her consciousness – _seriously_. Before she could indulge herself into biting off her nail, she quickly dropped her hands and faced Ibiki. "I know I could only trust those who have been loyal to the Sandaime." She narrowed her eyes, almost squinting at any possible sight inside the room that could be used as a hiding spot. Lately, she was becoming more wary of _unseen _ninjas listening to her daily words. She shrugged off the idea in her mind, as she tried to maintain her gaze towards the man.

"But," Ibiki finally retorted with palpable disagreement, the feeling that he wanted to release from the beginning of their conversation, and continued, "if you're putting your trust to the people that served Sarutobi-sama, then why did you ask me to investigate _him_?" The Morino asked, now not minding if the Hokage would not like his tone or not. Master of mind war as he was, there would always be time that he could not ponder beyond what was conceivable. After all, he'd encountered many types of ninjas before, ninjas that needed his _service _upon torture and interrogation. But one would always be a mystic to him; medical ninjas were always had a different set of mind that always belittle him. "And now you just told me that you did not like what I found." He added, finally unsealing his mind to spill out the curiosity that he hid.

"I _know_," Tsunade answered, baffling the already confused mind of Ibiki. "I know I do not have the right to question the people who you worked together with the Sandaime, but as Hokage I need to make sure that I have the loyal people working with me." She said, making her gaze a steely orb of earnestness. "I also hate myself when I need you to investigate _Hatake Kakashi_."

The two suddenly ended in a trance of silence, after the name was spoken inside the conversation. It was already a month ago when Tsunade had tasked Ibiki to examine a certain person for her, a job which he might have turned down if the woman wasn't the Hokage. Curious and eager at first, Ibiki was just as inquisitive as ever when she had given him a task that was outside the border of his expertise. Being in the Torture and Interrogation Force, Ibiki was an expert in gathering information, although his ways were always _more proactive _and _direct _than normal. Instilling unimaginative pain to both the psyche and the body, it was Ibiki's way to gather the information embedded in the mind of the enemy. In a slow but sure manner, breaking the enemy down into dust – whether it be the mind or the very flesh –, was the most utmost pattern to drain an enemy of vital data.

The task was as simple as those of the spies being employed around the village and in the other countries – gather information. Almost questioning the Hokage as to why she'd put him in such job, Ibiki had finally known that it wasn't just a simple person that he would collect information from. With wide eyes and stuttering mouth, Ibiki saw the folder that contained the basic records of the man he would investigate – Hatake Kakashi.

The Intelligence Division was one of the busiest and most _annoying _of the offices working for the village. Since it was unmistakably tied to the military force of Konoha, the Intelligence Division had taken the freedom to undertake some psychological tests to its jounins – the backbone of the ninja squads of the village. Ever since its formation before the rise of the young Yondaime into the office, the Intelligence Division had started its experimental plan in a _biannual _manner. The Third Great Ninja War ravaged the world that time, and the division had always been strict into maintaining the sanity of Konoha's ninja. Even though in the middle of the chaos, the division would always have the time to psychologically test their ninjas.

As wars and skirmishes wane when peace was starting to grow out over the ninja world, the Intelligence Division had also started to decrease its vigilance in overseeing the jounins, reducing their psychological assessments into an annual basis. As Konoha achieved its golden peak of peace, the division finally handed the task to the Torture and Interrogation Force of the ANBU, claiming that it would be wise if it was the _ANBUs _that take the assessment. Reluctance was the very first answer when it was offered to them, but the advantages of the scheme was as obvious as the shining sun – even though the ANBU were the elite ninjas of Konoha, _sanity _would always be a problem that could go unnoticed.

"Kakashi being out of ANBU is a difficulty I am currently undertaking, Tsunade-sama." Ibiki just replied, _indiscreetly _telling her superior the intricacy of his task. "Seriously, I'm being eyed by different people because I'm tracking almost all information that is related to him."

"And I would believe you actually note those eyes?"

_Damn_, he muttered in his mind. _She's being too serious._

"So what part of the story you want to hear?" Ibiki shifted the discussion, much to his chagrin. An Ibiki that would suddenly change the topic meant an Ibiki that had failed in his psychological attack – it was a disgrace if people found it. The Morino landed his gaze at the folder that was on top of the Hokage's table, waiting for the woman to answer.

"The part that you've found _interesting_," Tsunade replied briefly.

_Ahh… So she's noticed_, he thought. Ibiki allowed himself to smile weakly, trying to sort out the right words in his head. He'd want to make the report to Tsunade as simple as possible, since he had the random tendency to deepen out the meaning of particular information. He'd decided that he would still protect the status of the Hatake, since he was one of the village's best. Making a complex explanation of the things he discovered could only aggravate the situation. "Hokage-sama, I know what's in your mind." He smiled again and then returned with a straight face. "The fact that you are asking me to tell you what I've found appealing means that you _doubt _yourself if you have the right to distrust the Hatake."

_As expected_, Tsunade thought. _Beating around the bush can only make him find the holes_. Tsunade changed her position, leaning forward as she let her elbows rest atop the table, intertwining her hands while giving Ibiki a glare of a lifetime. She quirked her lips upward, which released the anxiousness the interrogator specialist was trying to hide. "You're correct. That's why I'm asking you to fill me up the things I can't find. I'm listening."

"Hatake Kakashi has always been a loyal ninja of Konoha. Even though I'm not to use his records and the accounts of fellow ninjas, I could proudly say that he has been one of Konoha's best – in both his skills and loyalty. From what you've tasked me to do, I've found no fault for him to be doubted." Ibiki summarized all of his words into some understandable and brief explanation, which could be furthered down to 'there's nothing wrong with Kakashi.' "Although…" Ibiki trailed his voice off as he approached the Hokage's table, revealing from his vest some scrolls and another folder. The Tsunade eyed the things, but with no motivation to look at each of them. What was the use of Ibiki explaining things to her then?

"Even before the start of the Iwagakure-Takigakure war, many people that worked with him noticed the relapse of Kakashi's _distant _behavior." Tsunade gave Ibiki a questioning glance. It took the man some seconds to realize what the Hokage was trying to show. "Forgive me, Tsunade-sama, I forgot to realize that you weren't in Konoha when his sensei was taken away from him." Ibiki looked at the map of the ninja world that hung on the walls of the office. "Even before, his childhood was already taken away from him when his father took his own life. He was forced to graduate in a very young age, making him a chuunin in an impossibly _juvenile _age." Ibiki sighed; he sometimes hated when it was him who needed to explain some _private _information to his superior. "His life drastically changed when his teammate died… Not so long then, another followed."

"Then his sensei?"

"Yes." Ibiki answered. "To cling to the very last person that he knew held the last thread of his sanity… it was Kakashi's dreaded mind. He knew that losing someone was part of life; he's a smart kid and he respect that fact. Life is ever temporary, but I think he failed to realize the meaning behind these short lives of ours."

"The relapse of his old behavior… you think it's connected to _something_?"

"I just want to make sure." Ibiki's answer. "When Team 7 was disbanded, he was forced to relieve his life when he's always alone. Perhaps, it was also the reason for the change. Especially the announcement about Naruto…" He slowly softened his voice, shooting his eyes in periphery towards the Hokage. He didn't want to take about a sensitive topic, but he was warranted to expose basically everything.

"He's sane, but the world is _not_."

* * *

With his musings numbing his consciousness on his way to his destination, Kakashi was barely surprised that he was already on the outskirts of the village. According to the researches that he did before leaving Konoha, Kakashi found out that the only village that could be found 10 kilometers southwest of Kumogakure was Kajime. For a country that was almost as hell bent as Iwagakure in bringing down their opponents in the past, it was almost dubious that Lightning Country contained much number of civilian villages. He'd seen Umino Iruka some two days ago, claiming that he was working on a mission in another civilian village. Somehow, Kakashi didn't find the almost absence of ninja villages as advantageous – he would always stick to his belief that the more obscured the enemy was in their own territory, the more he must prepare for an unannounced assault against him. He continued to move amongst the trees, making sure that his feet made no sound. He had decided from the beginning that he would try to prevent conflict as much as possible – his goal focused on taking out the espionage personnel out without too much fuss.

However, before he could even hide his chakra from some presence that could possibly some ninjas, Kakashi suddenly felt a chakra surge that pulsated across the clearing, just some trees away from him. Chakra flares were inviting signs for enemy ninjas, but Kakashi was amused upon the knowledge that the surge was done in a careful manner. In deep curiosity – which he hated having again – he started to go nearer to the spot where the flare originated. Reaching the place within seconds, Kakashi was almost wide-eyed when he saw the figure that stood in the center of the trees. Quickly masking his expression, he moved with incredulity.

"Hatake-san," the figure nodded in acknowledgment to the newcomer. "I suppose I know the reason why you are here in Lightning."

"_Turtle_," Kakashi spoke the name with glassy tone. "So you're the field officer?" He quickly asked, not wanting to prolong the conversation and to get his mission done. He gazed at the porcelain mask of the other one, still unsure of what the mask denoted in its figure. It wasn't even any abstract representation of any animal, just a plain porcelain mask painted with lines of red and black. It was in oval – only enough to cover a normal human face. Although the mask was unique in its sheer simplicity, Kakashi could still decipher the lingering _monstrosity _under the mask. "Or you're another ninja who wants to help––" Kakashi was cut short by the ANBU.

"Hatake-san, I would appreciate it if you're not to talk about that here, especially we're exposed to the senses of the enemy ninjas." The ANBU lectured Kakashi. "And I'm not _Turtle_, but you may call me _Owl_." Owl said, jumping beside Kakashi. "If you want to save what is left of the discovered spy network here in Lightning, then you might want to leave this place immediately. I'm accompanying you." Owl said, his voice _very _commanding that made Kakashi only intimidated more.

"Who told you that you can just order me around?" Kakashi retorted, his only visible eye narrowing as he scrutinized the ANBU. "And are you not going to answer me? I'm asking you if you are possibly the officer that is left in the field."

Owl considered in his mind before answering. Seriously, didn't most ninja know that it was harmful to let anger take over their mission? And they called the Hatake a genius… The ANBU looked at the eye of the other, which only flashed signs of annoyance. He then decided to answer, for the sake of his mission. "Alright, Hatake-san, let me rephrase my earlier statement. I want to leave this place as to secure the safety of the crumbling network, and please accompany back me to Konoha." Even though it sounded that he was surrendering to the will of Kakashi, Owl could only feel that the Hatake's irritation only increased.

_Is he really trying to bother me? _Kakashi asked in his mind. The implication of his restatement was very obnoxious – the sarcasm in it was very palpable in Kakashi's ears.

And to think that an ANBU was an officer in a spy network… Kakashi didn't have that much imagination. Even though he might take a peek to look the underneath, it was still an 'out of a box' idea to make an ANBU lead some _out-of-the-village_ mission that involved only reconnaissance. It wasn't really surprising to have an ANBU in the field, but the magnitude of his _involvement _in the task was just _odd_. As loyal elite ninjas that served as the Hokage's own ninja, the ANBU had always been entailed in missions where the kage was directly or _indirectly _involved. That was why one of the branches of the Intelligence Division, the Torture and Interrogation Force, was handed down to the ANBU.

"Hatake-san, might I inquire who gave you _this _mission?" Owl asked, instantly attracting the attention of the musing Kakashi.

The Hatake twisted his head in such force, that he felt that one of his vertebrae snapped. It was so astonishing to find that the other one could be so calm and _not _aggressive. Shaking off the observed change in behavior, Kakashi decided that it would be best to answer. "The Hokage."

"Of course," Owl answered, almost sounding that he forgot the simplest fact in mission-handling in the village. "She will always be the one to sort the available missions and hand them over to her selected team."

"I didn't get it from the Missions Desk, if that's your point." Kakashi answered flatly.

"I don't mean that, Hatake-san." Owl quickly retorted, defending himself. "I'm just merely curious as to why it was _you _who she sent."

"Will that be making any difference in your perceptions?"

"Of course," Owl replied. "It already meant a _lot_, Hatake-san."

* * *

"The ANBU that suddenly appeared in the ranks – I called him 'Owl now –, it was from him that I got the idea of investigating Kakashi." Tsunade finally confessed, feeling too overly guilty that she doubted the Copycat Ninja. "He told me that the Hatake was 'deviating from what's been ordered to him', to quote his exact statement."

Ibiki flashed some dangerous eyes, eyes that he quickly suppressed when Tsunade faced him. Even though he did not concern too much of himself to other matters outside of his task in the ANBU, Ibiki could never miss about the words and talks about the ANBU whose designation suddenly changes whenever in a new mission. It never failed to his memory about the information about that ANBU. Although he was very upset that the identity of the person was strictly a forbidden matter, there were still some things that couldn't be hidden no matter what. "You trust that _one_?" Ibiki quickly rose.

"I don't trust him." Her booming voice suddenly erupted, easily clearing out the doubt inside Ibiki. "I never wanted to trust people that I don't know. But that ANBU had served the Sandaime as the most loyal ANBU in his time. I could not question what he did, but I always doubt his true nature." She said, her eyes momentarily flashing some hints of annoyance before dying down some seconds after. "But he has made fine points that I can't just ignore."

"If you can excuse me, Hokage-sama, I will like to share to you that Kakashi had served the ANBU even before he was entered into the ranks." Ibiki spoke, trying to defend the person he was ordered to investigate. "It's no time to doubt him in the time that you need the most loyal people with you."

Tsunade waved her hand to halt the speaking Ibiki. Lowering her hands down, she started to narrate the things that were presented to her after the debriefing given to the ninjas who helped Kusagakure. "According to that ANBU – Owl –, Kakashi had refused to follow the order that I'd given them back when they were at Kusagakure. According to Yamato, Kakashi was _never _seen inside Takigakure. According to the ninjas that I sent together with Yamato, they only saw Kakashi _outside _of Takigakure, looking shocked at something that they never knew what. The ninjas that I asked to defend Kusagakure said that they never saw Kakashi back at the village." She explained these things while massaging her forehead, more veins almost popping out and making the most annoying painful sensation. "Tell me, Ibiki, what had happened to Kakashi back when the war with Kusagakure and Takigakure happened?"

"Blatant accusations, if I can say, Tsunade-sama. He may have just fought outside Takigakure that time." Ibiki tried to defend Kakashi again, sure that the evidences were made from unstable notions and desperate words.

"You think Iwagakure _lies_?" Tsunade asked before she revealed a set of papers on top of her table. "These were the reports from Iwagakure, regarding Kakashi." She pushed the papers forward to Ibiki. "I'm curious as to why the Tsuchikage sent this, but I'm afraid to tell you that when our own ninjas had penetrated inside Takigakure, Kakashi was _nowhere _to find."

Ibiki looked at the papers, his eyes clearly showing signs of distress even though how much he was trying to hide it. With an obvious refusal to see over the papers, Ibiki looked back at the Hokage, seeing some eyes that were demanding some answers and even flashing some signs to clear Kakashi of the things they were throwing against him. Kami only knew how much Tsunade was suffering due to the invisible threats that even loomed inside Konoha, and she was indeed desperate to find the sight of the people that she could trust. Ibiki knew that even though how much Tsunade was trying to spot the wrongness in Kakashi over the allegations against him, Tsunade was trying to save Kakashi from the chains that threatened his whole identity. "Tsunade-sama, I could not see the plausible reason for Iwagakure to be showing these to you."

"What do you mean?" Tsunade asked, raising an eyebrow towards the head of the ANBU Torture and Interrogation Force.

"I'm just saying that these things are becoming irrelevant of Kakashi's status. I do believe that the ANBU, Owl, was having a viable reason for him to complain about Kakashi. But for Iwa to present you some information regarding Kakashi's sudden disappearance in the fight – I could not see reason for it." Ibiki reasoned. "It is highly possible that the charges of Owl towards Kakashi just went highly coincidental with Iwa's sudden involvement in the concern for him. But to think that even Iwa would be fretful about Kakashi – there is behind that move, if you would ask me."

"You're making some unhealthy implications, Ibiki."

"There is nothing bad about implications when it's still to be proven," Ibiki answered quickly. "If Iwa was so generous about giving you information regarding Kakashi during the war against Takigakure, then you would want to be clarified by their palpable insinuation of their own, Hokage-sama, which I believe I do not need to point out anymore."

Tsunade stared wide-eyed towards Ibiki. "You're suggesting that… Iwa has been _tracking _Kakashi?" She continued. "Why?"

* * *

If Obito could describe to the younger generation of ninjas how the intelligence network worked for the village of Iwa, he would easily tell them that it ran almost similarly with other ninja villages near them. The intelligence network was a typical part of the ninja village, just like how different branches ran the whole village. Although it didn't have a direct participation on how the village was being run and controlled, it did have a major part in ensuring the continuity and _survival _of the village. If money was the reason how villages work, produce, and grow, then _intelligence _was the reason why it _survived_.

As vital as the ninjas that made up the ninja ranks of a ninja village, intelligences were the core pieces of what made up the military force of a certain village. Forget all about the arms and numbers, forget all about the capabilities of the villages, forget about everything regarding the forces that made up the force – but as long as one had the proper intelligence about it, _holes _the size of mountains could be produced in order to _destroy _a seemingly indestructible wall.

Being _indirectly _a part of the intelligence workplace of Iwagakure, Obito had a plenty of share regarding the happenings within the office. He had seen it worked and it was very _shocking _information that he had known about it. Even though it may look absurd to the perception of most people, the intelligence network was actually one of the _quietest _and _calmest _offices that ran under the orders of the Hokage. Being the irony of what the majority believed, the intelligence division was the epitome of the silence among all the branches that worked in the village. Everything was so flawless – there were no mess and no disruptions that happened along the way. Surprisingly, _there was even no person that could be seen working there_.

In Obito's own point of view, it was as if that the Intelligence division of Iwagakure simply _didn't _exist.

"Kakumo-san, you're here again." The person came in a very surprising tone, but Obito was already desensitized by the voice that greeted everyone whenever inside the empty office. "I wonder why you've been visiting intelligence for many times now."

"You really don't need to concern yourself as to why I'm always here, ninja." Obito answered, glaring at a direction near the window. He closed the door behind him, and proceeded walking inside the room, particularly approaching a certain shelf of scrolls near a portrait that hung beside it. "And, you know, you must not really be saying those things to me."

"Because you're under the _direct _orders of the Tsuchikage?" The ninja retorted with a vicious tone. "You're worse than I imagined."

"And what you think of me concerns me?" Obito replied with the same fierceness. "As part of the intelligence division, I know that you may have some information concerning me." He said, whirling his head away from the direction of the other person inside the room and towards the collection of scrolls. "I might guess that you knew from the beginning that I wasn't originally from Iwagakure and I came from the village that you hated most." He got two scrolls from the stack before facing the man again. "I understand why you hate me."

"If you understand, then you must also know that you are also walking on a dangerous ground, ne, Kakumo-san?" The man challenged him. "To tell you the truth, we can't still understand why the Tsuchikage accepted you as an Iwa ninja. The Intelligence _chief _also declines to make any comment about your presence in our ranks. In the field of intelligence work, _suspicion _might even mean the _world_."

Obito sudden laughed aloud upon hearing the words of the other man. The other one only looked at him with annoyance, observing how he tried to control the laughter that suddenly left his body. "Do you even have a mind?" Obito suddenly asked in the middle of his laughing fits. "You're _suspecting _me of _something_?" After stopping his uncontrollable hysterics to laugh, Obito tried to calm himself down. "You've already stated two of the most trusted people inside Iwagakure. "You don't even have to question the Tsuchikage for the decisions he is making. After all, he is one of the _oldest _and _wisest_ among all people here in the village. And troubling as it may seem, I found myself being _cleared _away from the eyes of the intelligence _chief_… You're suspicion is very laughable if you're still not finding any reason for me to stay in Iwa." His eyes suddenly narrowed and flashed a look of danger towards the other man. "You might also want to know that _suspicion _can destroy one person. You don't know the flow of things. In the real world, one wrong step can bring you to your grave." He started to walk out from the small room, carrying with him the scrolls that he took from the shelf.

The other one shifted nervously, changing to an almost discreet fighting stance. "A-are you threatening me?"

As Obito walked past approach the man, he stopped walking and turned his heads towards him. Smiling, he talked to him again. "No, I'm not threatening you." Walking past ahead, Obito never turned his head back again. Slightly leaving the door ajar, he spoke out aloud. "_Tanaka_-san, how would you like to be back again in the ordinary ninja ranks again?"

The man called Tanaka could only narrow his eyes in annoyance and mild curiosity.

"Just don't mind what I've said, Tanaka-san. Sometimes things just go inside my head and I blurt them out without my intention." The door suddenly closed shut. The shuffling of footsteps started to sound and then suddenly grew fainter as the owner of those finally walked out of the hallway.

Tanaka continued to stare at the door, thinking of all the words that they threw out to each other for the span of the encounter. He grew anxious of the developments in the intelligence division, and he knew the tip of the scales weren't favoring them. The Konohagakure ninja-turned-Iwa was doing things that were to be questioned. He _believed _that it was true.

* * *

"Intelligence chief?" The Tsuchikage raised his head from what he was reading; looking intently at Akatsuchi who was standing near a big wooden box that he brought from the basement. With obvious concern and interest, the Tsuchikage finally placed the scroll down onto his table and clasped his hands together in an inquisitive manner. "Is there any problem now?"

"No, sir." Akatsuchi answered, brushing off the sweat that had formed atop his eyebrows. "I'm just curious. I've been hearing news that the intelligence division that can be interpreted as '_alarming_', as I've heard from ninjas in the different offices." He counted the number of boxes that was already inside the office of the Tsuchikage, and mentally calculating of how much more he would bring up from the dirty basement. "I'm not really part of the intelligence division, but my instincts tell me that I should also be aware of it."

"Is that so?" Ōnoki curled his lips into a small smile, watching how one of his guards was already trying to bring up his thoughts. "Well, I suppose it is also indeed the right moment for me to assess how the intelligence division does this time." The Tsuchikage stood up from his seat and went nearer to where Akatsuchi was standing. Touching the edges of the wooden boxes and silently reading the characters carved into it, Ōnoki suddenly let his memories and thoughts flushed and mixed inside his mind, tactically sorting out the proper ones from the unimportant parts. "You know, almost ten years ago, I keep on finding the intelligence division of Iwagakure as the best office that served under me." Ōnoki started narrating as he himself checked the information carved on the outside covers of the wooden boxes inside.

"For that ten years, I've not received at least a single complain or _failure _from the intelligence division." The Tsuchikage paused for a while, gently knocking the particular wooden box just beside. He continued to palpate the box until he was satisfied, and leaving the inanimate object alone. "To be truthful to you, I've heard the same gossip lingering inside this tower, and I am always keeping my calm whenever that talk is being _over-talked_."

"Do you really trust the intelligence division that you choose not to believe what most of the people do?" Akatsuchi blurted out, who was cut off from his mental counting of the number of boxes yet to be delivered. Upon realizing to who he was talking to, Akatsuchi suddenly covered his mouth and instantly bowed without hesitation. "I'm sorry, Tsuchikage-sama, I didn't mean disrespect."

"It's fine, Akatuschi." Ōnoki replied in a calm tone, motioning his guard to relax in front of his presence. The Tsuchikage suddenly eyed a particular shelf just nearly adjacent to his table. "That shelf contains most of the scrolls that Obito brings from the intelligence division office. It contains some of the most annoying information to the most important facts that can shatter Iwagakure in an instant." Even though he wasn't looking at his younger guard, Ōnoki knew the distress he brought unto Akatsuchi. "The intelligence division had been doing this stuff from the time that it started acting serious. It was awkward at first – those pieces of scroll were actually the fruit of labor of our intelligence people; thus, noted as _very important _and under _secrecy_. But as the days and the years passed, I finally felt the effectiveness and efficiency of some people – like Obito – bringing those scrolls directly into my office. Even though it is always a hard task to read, I always find how the intelligence division sums up the information into words that I can easily comprehend. Even though what are being put into those shelves ranges from village-shattering to trivial, the _connections _that I started to learn was _immense_."

"What do you mean, Tsuchikage-sama?" Akatsuchi asked.

"Due to the new leadership that controlled the intelligence division nearly ten years ago, drastic changes had appeared into the office. What I liked most about the change was the perception that was created from the rubbles of the old lesson forgotten by the new generation – 'there is neither a very crucial information nor a very trivial one; it all matters on how a person gives priorities to it.'" Ōnoki chuckled at the memory of it was grilled into the minds of the people working under espionage. "It is very true. Every piece of information is important, and there is probably no excuse as to why the intelligence people need not to include things that they _think _is unimportant for the present times. You can't simply trust single information – multitudes and multitudes of it will benefit you in the long run. And from that very thought and action that changed the intelligence division, I started to learn too the value of every single pieces of fact collected by our own people."

"So that is the reason why you still trust the intelligence division?" Akatsuchi raised, his face clearly denoting something that the older man could easily interpret.

"Akatsuchi, do you really know the gist of the gossip that you are constantly hearing?" Ōnoki posed to the younger one.

"Uhh…" Akatsuchi started to mumble some indiscernible words as he scratched his temple to collect the proper words to answer to the Tsuchikage. "According to what I've heard, there had been a terrible distrust that looms against every member of the office, and, because of that, the commanding officer – the intelligence chief – is effectively cutting the number of ninja members and espionage people from the group." Akatsuchi summarized what he knew upon his answer, and slowly looked into the face of the Tsuchikage for any non-verbal cues.

"That is true." Ōnoki answered seriously, which startled Akatsuchi.

The young guard just remained silent, waiting for his Tsuchikage to tell the underlying meaning embedded in his words.

"The intelligence division is a sensitive office to begin with," Ōnoki started. "It's both sensitive and critical. And as much as possible, even I would make sure that it stays working for its function with any delay. Every method is being used in order to preserve its existence, against those that might harm it." Ōnoki seemed to smile, which Akatsuchi missed. "The human mind has multiple perceptions running as it tried to discover more. What I can only say is that the intelligence division is now targeting those perceptions as a way to ensure its safety and _secrecy_."

Ōnoki was able to laugh after explaining those things to Akatsuchi. The latter remained in the shadow of confusion, and he dwelled deeper into just after what his kage told him. Akatsuchi looked at the Tsuchikage, who was now giggling silently. As he saw how his master reacted to his explanation, he suddenly knew that the realm of intelligence was as deep as a trench lying in the darkness. As he seemed to know more, the farther he seemed from the truth. It was indeed the intelligence division's work to discover the reality among the vagueness that was swallowing the world, but if all sides were impending to betray them, what were the choices left for them?

Akatsuchi concluded; the field of intelligence was a dangerous one. Realizing that he really didn't have any real answers, he decided to continue the task the Tsuchikage gave him earlier.

* * *

**Two weeks later, Konoha**

Kakashi had finished the mission, and felt the need to calm his mind.

The memorial stone in Konoha while was still one of the most peaceful locations in the whole village, Kakashi noted. Even though the whole Fire Country was still enjoying the peace that it had gathered since after the Third Great Ninja war, and from the minor turmoil that it cradled in the form of a war between Suna and Oto against Konoha three years ago and the most recent one just two months ago, Kakashi could still not ponder what place can possible outmatched the tranquility the memorial . To simply put it, Kakashi had taken likeness of the place – and there was simply no other place that could give him the serenity that place gave.

What else could give him the silence of his soul than the place where some of his important people lay?

Since the time he'd lost his team – Obito, his sensei, and, finally, Rin –, Kakashi visited the place without fail, with his heart always trying to bring him back into that place. He could always feel the stillness of emotions that he had – at the time his team was still complete – when he was near the memorial stone. When he was near it, it was as if his team was still well and alive.

He'd described himself delusional back in the past, when his heart was still recovering from the lost of those precious people. When he would visit the memorial stone, back at the time when he was still an ANBU, he often saw a visage of his sensei talking at Obito. He could always see Rin giggling at the background as she watched the exchange between the Uchiha and his sensei. He would see Obito put an accusing finger towards his sensei while Rin started to intervene in the scene. He would see them a lot in while he was near the memorial – and then he could not decide if it was his _guilt_ or something else was playing with his eyes.

_If I had done something back then_, Kakashi started to mumble in his mind, while his lone eye was focused on the crystal-like stone in front. _I would have saved them all._

"_Really?_" A voice would answer back, which always failed to startle Kakashi. "_Could you have saved us all?_"

Kakashi would turn his head towards the nearest wooden pole located near the memorial, his eyes trying to show no signs of emotions as it scrutinized the visage. "I could have." He answered, not minding if he'd said it aloud.

"_Back then, I just considered you a pessimistic guy who'd prefer to leave things in total exactness_," the figure seemed to look surprised at the depth of his own statement. _"Anyway_," the visage continued to speak, "_the past happened already; there is simply no way to correct what was wrong._" The man started to walk away the wooden pole, his face gloomy at the meaning of his own words. "_Or if those things were indeed _wrong_._"

"_Obito_," Kakashi spoke. "You're just my _thought_, you know?"

"_I know_," the figure answered. "_I'm actually the part of your mind that had taken Obito's perspective of things._" The man eventually smiled and made a thumbs-up sign. "_It's really surprising – your thoughts, really._"

"Everything that happened recently told me the truth." Kakashi said, while he put his hands into his pockets. "Obito's alive."

"_So basically, you're telling me to go away?_" The Obito-figure replied. "_That I don't need to exist now because I don't have any reason to?_"

"Yes,"

"_You're harsh, Kakashi_." He responded. "_You know, even though Obito's alive, you cannot simply remove me anymore. You took in his perception of the world, and you've taken that deep inside your heart. You've ingrained what memory he's left you in the past inside your very self… there's no turning back anymore_." The Obito-figure explained, seriousness filling up the very image of his face. "_I know you're happy that he's alive. That's why you're here, Kakashi. You're happy because one of the souls that you should have saved has returned._"

"Even though you're just in my thought, you are still annoying." Kakashi said, with a small smile that crept hidden behind his mask. He looked above the heaven, trying to see the stillness of the azure sky. He knew that time that his sensei and even Rin was looking at him from above. He knew that they were happy; at least he was blaming himself _lesser _that time.

"It's not even surprising to find you here," someone spoke up from behind Kakashi. The jounin didn't need to turn his head to see who the newcomer was – the slightly shrilling deep voice was enough for him to discern who its owner was.

"Ibiki," Kakashi called out, not even minding to look at him.

Ibiki continued to walk nearer towards the memorial stone, carrying with him some fresh flowers. He moved silently near the stone, paving respect to the memory of the dead that was buried in the place. After placing the flowers just beneath the stone, he bowed down a little bit and placed his hands together, muttering a silent prayer that Kakashi didn't mind to hear. After all, prayers were some message that needed privacy as well.

After performing his brief prayer, Ibiki quickly approached Kakashi. "I just found out that you were together with _that ANBU _these past two weeks."

_That ANBU_, Kakashi noted how Ibiki referred to the ninja. _It's obvious that it is _him _he is talking about_. Before speaking, the Hatake first thought of the words he'd be using for the conversation. He'd already prepared himself for events such as what has going to happen between him and Ibiki – he also needed to be alert whenever talking to an _interrogator_. "We've just returned yesterday. It was a mission that needed to be treated with _privacy_." He stressed the last word of his statement, making sure that it was understandable enough for Ibiki to understand. _Don't you dare pry_.

"Alright," Ibiki answered. "I'm just here to tell you that the ANBU showed up this morning in the Hokage's office, requesting for a mission to the _west_."

_The west? Suna and Iwa?_ Kakashi suddenly remembered the major ninja villages that were located in the direction. "Why request such?"

"Apparently, there were increasing number of reports coming from our spies from there, and even our allies from Suna." Ibiki started to explain. "Some questionable activities were being recorded that might even require Konoha's eyes into it. Although…" Ibiki trailed his voice off as he looked at Kakashi. "The ANBU's action is highly related to one of his missions in the past. I think, it was the one that obligated him to infiltrate Takigakure during the past war…" Ibiki didn't dare to blink his eyelids even for a second, his scrutinizing orbs transfixed at Kakashi's face.

_The infiltration?_ Kakashi looked bewildered.

Ibiki smiled. He didn't miss the expression Kakashi had.

Kakashi suddenly knew the interrogator was already trying to pull something out of him.

Ibiki noticed Kakashi relaxed.

Kakashi tried to remain calm, after knowing what Ibiki was trying to do.

Ibiki knew Kakashi was too late. _Information gathered_, he thought to himself."

"Or not," Ibiki continued his previous statement. Even though how much Kakashi would reason to defend his reaction, a person deeply entailed with how the human mind functioned understood every non-verbal signs an individual does. He wasn't an interrogator for nothing.

Kakashi didn't reply.

"It's my time to return to my shift," Ibiki told Kakashi. "See you soon, Copycat Kakashi." And with the final bid of farewell, Morino Ibiki left the memorial in silence, his mind running amok of conclusions.

At some distance, the Obito-figure stood, watching Kakashi mull over the latest affair that happened at his very spot. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, still trying to interpret the expression written over the silver-haired jounin's face. "_You're in serious trouble, Kakashi_."

**. . .**

**The same day, Iwagakure**

Ōnoki held an expression of amusement and slight dissatisfaction, while he was directing his gaze over a certain chuunin that had ran inside his office without any permission in particular. As much as he wanted to, he never wanted to be bothered while he was working in his office. The sheer number of documents was already overwhelming, even for a person of his caliber. To have some of his time being disturbed by some random intrusion was already a great loss in his total efficiency, and, somehow, he had built up in his system that minor disruptions were things that were _unforgivable_ now. With a disappointed look, Ōnoki maintained his eye contact on his latest _visitor_.

"Naruto, if you don't have anything else to ask me, then I kindly require you to vacate this room already." The Tsuchikage said, his tone carrying the ultimate sense of authority and power. "Even as a kage working in this cramped space, I still have duties for the village that I must focus on."

"Ōnoki-sama," Naruto called out the Tsuchikage's name, quickly startling the latter. It was very unusual for Naruto to address in a formal manner. It was a telltale sign that what Naruto was asking was something of grave importance to him. "Please, I _beg _you. Tell me where you have sent Team Obsidian."

"As a ninja serving under the banner of Iwagakure, you should have the greatest knowledge that you don't have the _right _to know everything that I issue to _my _ninja, Naruto." Ōnoki answered harshfully, matching the somberness Naruto was giving. "It's already a serious _breach _of intelligence for a ninja to know every ninja parameters, and I will like to tell you that it is one of the mistakes we are trying to prevent."

"But, Ōnoki-sama––"

"I will not tolerate any disobedience in my rule, Naruto." The Tsuchikage of Iwa boomed his voice over the blond ninja, his tone towering higher than the tallest structure inside the village. "Please be ready for further missions that can be assigned to you. Please bear in mind that due to the recent war, Iwagakure had a very slight decline in manpower. We need all the help and people we can have to ensure the continuity of our missions." Ōnoki told Naruto. "You're dismissed."

Naruto bowed his head, obviously defeated against the Tsuchikage's mighty will. He turned to his back and started walking away from the table where he had his banter with the most powerful ninja in the village. With heavy footsteps and a gloomy aura, Naruto left the office with his goal unmet. Not even minding some people that had stopped to greet him, the blond ninja proceeded in his way.

Ōnoki watched the young man leave. He didn't feel any regret in being hard to Naruto. After all, he was a ninja – he needed to act one and practice the ways of being one. Emotions were still a problem even until now; the Tsuchikage was disappointed about his discovery. He was something from Naruto because he knew the man had a future already looking at him. That's why he was dissatisfied.

"You can go out now, Obito. You're boy has left the office." Ōnoki announced before he placed his hands atop the deck of papers, his hands ready to sign some documents and stamp his official signage onto them.

"I'm sorry, Ōnoki-jiji." Obito's form suddenly appeared from the wall, his body seemed to coalesce away from the flat surface of the concrete. "Naruto's really touchy at some things."

"You should really be sorry," the Tsuchikage said without even raising his head from the documents and looking at the other one. It hurt Obito when the old man does that – he would always do it when he was clearly upset or something.

"So he is asking where Team Obsidian was assigned…" Obito said while he procured some scrolls from his vest. "He'd finally realized that he ignored Team Obsidian from the time he got angry when we were still fighting the war against Takigakure." He said, slightly smiling. And he was totally glad that the Tsuchikage wasn't looking at him when he did that. "I mean, it's been _two months _since then. It's no wonder why Naruto is trying to look for them now."

"What's the situation with Takigakure now?" The Tsuchikage suddenly asked, prompting Obito to stop talking about his thoughts.

"The talks between Iwagakure and Takigakure are still strong." Obito started. "In estimation, Takigakure is already ready for the transition of leadership into your rule, Ōnoki-sama. The only real problem now is that Waterfall Country is threatening Takigakure not to continue with their incorporation with us."

"How critical is the threat being posed by Waterfall Country?"

"Even the undermanned Takigakure can easily shut down the entire country," Obito proudly answered. "Provided that Waterfall country does not obtain any _external _help, that is."

"Next week, I will be going to Takigakure for a formal visit." Ōnoki shared Obito his plans, which surprised the latter.

"You haven't told the intelligence division about that," Obito pointed out, rummaging through a small notebook that he kept inside his vest. "According to their calendar, they've got no plans of gathering intelligence regarding Takigakure these times." He said while he scratched the back of his head in confusion. "That is going to pester the intelligence division, Tsuchikage-sama."

"_Pester _them?" Ōnoki shot a look at Obito.

"That is what I think," Obito answered, unthreatened with the kage's glance.

"My _dear _Obito, do you know why I didn't tell Naruto about the whereabouts of Team Obsidian?" Ōnoki stood from his sit and started to wander around his own office. He looked at a small circular window nearest to him and gazed at the outside. "It's not really that he is about to prod about the security of our missions… but because it is a request of the _intelligence division_."

Obito gulped. He knew that what Ōnoki was doing was similar to those that he did in the past – an excruciating manner of lesson giving through his wise words and expertise. Yet he knew that there was something more to what just the old man was implying. After all, Ōnoki was one master subliminal talking, as he'd known him.

"Team Obsidian was sent to a mission that was deemed of 'great importance' – as I have quoted it in the formal request – for the cause of Iwagakure. Usually, I always want full details of the missions being asked by the offices that administer the whole village, but I will always make an exemption because it is from the _intelligence division_." Ōnoki said. "I trust the people that are now working in the intelligence field that is why I permitted the mission without too much question."

"Ōnoki-sama, I think I don't get what––"

"Putting Team Obsidian in a mission to Kusagakure seems interesting, don't you think? You know, I always want to know how you work. That's why I permitted and protected your cause, my dear _intelligence chief_…" The Tsuchikage said, his eyes seething with displeasure. He slowly turned his head towards Obito, who was now looking back at him with dark-filled eyes. "You've been acting so innocently these past ten years, but I must always praise you for what you did. After all, _deception _is one of the foundations of intelligence. You've already deceived a lot, _Kakumo_."

* * *

**One week later, Outskirts of Kusagakure**

Kakashi was sure that two weeks ago, Ibiki had subtly told him that he was being _suspected _for something.

For a split second, Kakashi instantly experienced the capabilities of an interrogator ninja. He didn't have any idea at all. The suddenness had taken over his leniency and his weakness started to appear before Ibiki. Even though Kakashi had a mindset that a ninja such as Ibiki was a _naturally _dangerous one, his guard had failed and he was – in one snap – _breached _with a simple reaction from him. Geniuses like Ibiki could have a lot of interpretation for that expression he made back then. Troublesome it may seem to discover what, the most evident thing was still running around Ibiki's palms – with or without _proper _analysis, Hatake Kakashi just proved him something viable.

The intelligence field was a battlefield on its own, the very information weapons capable of killing off a life without too much difficulty. Unlike real weapons, information and knowledge were weapons that could easily be carried, its effectiveness greater than what could be imagined. It was more lethal than a kunai or shuriken, more destructive than ninjutsu, more distorting than genjutus, and can inflict more than physical damaged than taijutsu. Information was more than a weapon countries and ninja villages wanted for themselves. It was already an entity that could assure the survival of a nation… or it could inevitably be used to destroy one.

The battle that Ibiki had joined was a clash that only titans could participate. One wrong move and everything would be gone. It was a battle that involved glass swords – so damaging that it could even harm the wielder. It was a combat that never had a side – the intelligence field was a lair itself for treacherous serpents waiting for the right moment to strike.

Unfortunately, Kakashi seemed to have stepped on a trapped that involved him in Ibiki's way.

Or perhaps, it was one of Ibiki's ways for him to warn him of an _incoming _trap. He still remembered that day.

"_Hatake Kakashi, it's always surprising that you come here in my office once in a while," the Godaime Hokage greeted him even though her very attention was focused on the stacks of papers that littered her table. Kakashi had even noticed it; Tsunade seemed to be working more those days, a feat that had even startled Shizune and Ibiki himself. It was a sudden change from the Hokage that happened the past month, although surprising as it was, it was rather a good thing for Konoha._

The Takigakure matter perhaps_, Kakashi thought, as he observed the Hokage and prepared the words he should be saying to her. "Good afternoon, Hokage-sama." He greeted her. "Ibiki here had told me that there is a mission that will involve some of our ninja towards Kusagakure. I am here to tell you that I want to volunteer in that mission."_

_Tsunade suddenly stopped from what she was doing and raised her head to meet up with Kakashi's face. As usual, Kakashi seemed expressionless, but having Ibiki on the background made the jounin's usual face a void of _interest. _She clasped her hands together after pushing the bulk of the papers away from her, looking stalwart even though in a seated position. "You're surprising me, Kakashi." It was Tsunade's comment towards Kakashi's volunteering. "What makes you decide that?"_

_The hidden question suddenly appeared in front of Kakashi, the silver-haired jounin instantly enlightened of the situation he was caught in. From Tsunade's mere question alone, Kakashi had forged a conjecture about the inclusion of Ibiki in the whole picture. Of course, who else who had the capability to use the skills of the head interrogator and who had the right to question the _loyalty _of the ninjas in Konoha? Tsunade had the power to summon Ibiki… for what purpose? Of course, Kakashi had the general idea. Tsunade was probing him. On what grounds? He didn't yet know…_

_But did Ibiki just send him the idea?_

_Everything clicked inside his mind as a puzzle was suddenly solved in an instant._

Of course, _Kakashi thought_, Ibiki wasn't trying to get some information from me. It's actually too dumb for an interrogator of his level to be desperately to acquire some in _that _manner. _Hatake Kakashi was beginning to interpret Ibiki's arrival in the memorial. It was plausible. Ibiki needed not to see Kakashi personally to obtain information… Ibiki's move in the memorial was blatant, and the starkness of the act was a sign that he had another reason why. From that thought alone, Kakashi had already established a fact from his observations – Ibiki was actually trying to help him._

How?_ Kakashi asked himself. _He's going to help me…_ he felt anxiety suddenly washing over his whole body._ Don't tell me, he's going to help me… by _provoking _Tsunade-sama's suspicion to grow?_ With that realization, the silver-haired jounin found himself in a huge game board, already a pawn whose owner already made a move._

"_I am interested about the people that tried to kill me once even before the war with Takigakure started." Kakashi started. He quickly pulled out a point when a visible reaction was formed in Tsunade's face. "As I've reported you from months ago, I was intercepted by Iwagakure ninjas with a purpose to kill me. It's not surprising that ninjas as such do carry vengeance until this point, but what I learned about them seems to go something deeper." Kakashi told it in a manner that put his side in blamelessness. As he explained that to her, he could still remember the time when the two Iwa ninjas attacked him, who were defeated soon afterwards. What made the skirmish so complex was the involvement of another ninja who took the name 'Kakumo,' who then revealed himself as Uchiha Obito, his long lost teammate._

_It was still puzzling to his side. During their brief interactions, what Obito had reasoned out was that he _volunteered _to be the one to fight him in order for him to prevent the hands of the other Iwa ninjas into capturing him. Kakashi believed in Obito. With the same reason, Kakashi was determined to know the reason why there was a renewed effort in an assault against his life._

"_Alright," Tsunade sighed. "This, perhaps, is your lucky day, Kakashi." She handed him a scroll. "The mission parameters involved a group of Iwagakure ninjas that were moving in the territories of Kusagakure. Since the latter was still recovering from the damage they got from the last war, they could not do anything against the Iwa nins. In turn, they'd sent us the information." She shot a bloodshot eye towards the silver-haired jounin. "Kakashi, I entrust you this mission. Please, ensure that another conflict is stopped before it worsens."_

"_Hai," Kakashi answered ardently. "Who are my team members?"_

"_Sarutobi Asuma and Shizune herself," Tsunade replied. "I was really planning to hand over this mission to Pigeon after he returns from his mission."_

_Kakashi swore that he was beginning to hate the feeling whenever _that _particular ANBU was being included in conversations. After all, Kakashi had the greatest suspicion that it was that ANBU that was trying to make him appear bad to the Hokage and to Konoha itself. From their first meeting back then, he'd revealed some antagonism against him. He didn't even know why._

"_I was from a mission that involved him, Tsunade-sama." Kakashi said in clear voice. "From the looks that I saw coming from him, he seemed he'd _not _be getting back here in your office in a short time."_

_Tsunade looked at Kakashi's visage and calculated the jounin with her own amber orbs. Kakashi's eyes always had the look of laziness and procrastination, but Tsunade would often break those _facades _lingering in his eyes. Those were one of Kakashi's fronts, to shield him from the prying eyes of different individuals – enemies or _allies_. But, in one way or another, there would always come a point where frontages were useless transparencies._

"_Alright, Kakashi." Tsunade declared. "You will be going to Kusagakure to perform the mission. You're dismissed."_

He'd proven that Tsunade was suspecting him and Ibiki was helping him.

"Kakashi," Asuma broke him off from his trail of thoughts. "The targets are in sight."

The silver-haired jounin looked out from the bush that they were hiding at, scanning at the surroundings for _other _possible movement other than the people that they were tracking. It was always for critical for a team with low number such as them to be more serious in such times, since it was obvious that they were outnumbered. Even though number and the skill level of enemy ninjas were still two very different factors, reality would always come unexpectedly.

"Assessment of the situation," Kakashi spoke softly.

"There has been no change in their itinerary. They are still moving at a slow pace. We've not yet seen the convoy itself but we're sure that they included a number of more than fifteen." Asuma answered. "What are we going to do?"

"We wait." Kakashi responded. A three-man cell could never perform an assault to a group of fifteen.

After ten minutes, the group had revealed itself from the forest that covered their path, appearing at the wide grassland inside the territory of Kusagakure. Kakashi and Asuma watched the group as it slowly made its way towards their path, both of them already curious as to why the convoy of ninjas seemed to be negligent of their guard. Due to their continuous observation, his team seemed to have known what convoy was planning for.

******. . .**

"You have not told us what the intelligence division is planning for us to be brought here," a calm and slightly deep voice of a young man started to strike a conversation as soon as their group stopped for a short break. "Care to tell us now?" His silvery-brown eyes looking away from his fellow ninjas, the man took a glance towards his teammate, who was also gazing at him.

"I'm already feeling that something is wrong," the other one spoke.

"_Aa_," The reply came.

"Hey, my teammate is asking you!" An energetic voice of a female sounded among the group. "You should––" Her statement never reached its completion when the ninja nearest to her attacked her without warning. Being the agile person she was, the female ninja flipped backwards to avoid the hasty slash attack from the ninja. "What are you doing?"

"We're performing the mission given to us," a random ninja from the group replied. "Now, _Team Obsidian_, now that you've been part of a mission given to you by the Intelligence Division, you must also work your part." He moved forwards and revealed a sword from his scabbard. "Your mission is to _die_!"

"This is what _Kakumo-san _sent us for?"

******. . .**  


The name came clearest to Kakashi's ear. Even with greatest denial, he would never miss that name, for he, himself, had the utmost knowledge concerning the _owner _of the name.

With an unexplainable impulse, Kakashi dashed forward to the field, with a goal to save the people that were being attacked by their fellow ninjas.

******. . .**

**Some minutes later, after the battle**

Kakashi just observed the approaching teen towards him. With slight amusement, Kakashi took notice the slight similarity of his hair to him. He could not also miss the look of seriousness in the teen's face, a feat very unusual to people of such age. Asuma was looking from afar, while Shizune was checking them for any serious injuries. The two ninjas together with Kakashi were observing the whole scene in silence and in curiosity. Kakashi was a man who would always stick to a viable plan, but, lately, he'd just risked it all when he attacked randomly.

The teen looked up the face of the jounin. "Kakashi -_sensei_," the austere tone quickly took Kakashi's mind. "Please help _him_," the teen pointed his fingers towards the fourth figure that stood with them, a man whose face was covered with bandage and hands shackled with heavy iron.

Kakashi stood in surprise. From the sound of the young man, it seemed that he was conveying some message. But what was it? And why did he seem so receptive of the subliminal tone hidden in those words? _Could it be?_ Kakashi suddenly remembered a thought. _Naruto has a gift for you…_ The obscured message from Obito entered his mind. He took a glance at the girl who was being tended by Shizune. When she saw him look at her, she opened her mouth to speak. "_Sensei._"

Hatake Kakashi finally realized.

He moved towards the bandaged man. The teen tugged the clothes of the latter. Slowly, the man removed the bandages covering his eyes. What happened afterwards was a shock to Kakashi.

_The Sharingan! _He shouted in his mind. _Could it be? _Kakashi looked deeply at the eyes of the man, though he knew that Asuma and Shizune didn't have any sight of the man's eyes. _Sasuke?_

"_Sensei_," the man spoke. "Please help _us_."

_Naruto's gift…_ _is Sasuke? Why?_

_

* * *

_

_- _**End of Chapter** -

Obito is the intelligence chief? Damn, I should have known from the beginning...

And Sasuke's a gift? Wow. Maybe he'll turn into a cake sometime.

Thanks for reading!


	4. Struggling Wills

**Author's Message: **This is for making you wait for a long time. Another chapter. As promised, it will be a chapter that is shorter than the first three.

Thanks for continuously reading!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

* * *

The Irony of Being a Ninja

**Chapter 4 – Struggling Wills**

"So, you're from Iwagakure as well?" Asuma started to ask questions to the group of ninjas that were assaulted by their fellows some hours ago.

As per Kakashi's orders, they started moving back towards Konoha, with Asuma and Shizune not knowing the reason why the silver-haired jounin wanted to take the ninjas back to the village _immediately_. It was indeed standard procedure to bring _prisoners _to the village for interrogation, but the suddenness was surprising for their part. After all, the scene that had just happened lately wasn't even entailed in the mission parameters. Kakashi's rush decisions were really questionable – in comparison on how he worked in his prime years of an ANBU.

"_Hai_," the silver-haired teen answered softly. As Kakashi and his teammates had noticed, the teen seemed to be acting as the spokesperson of the group. What was more intriguing was the expression that the Iwagakure ninjas wore – it seemed that they were _lax _and unworried that they were captured as prisoners for Konoha.

"Do you have any idea why were you attacked by your _fellow _Iwagakure ninjas?" Asuma continued probing. While he did the talking, it was Kakashi who was listening with increased vigor. Kakashi had already decided that he would talk to the Iwa ninjas once they set foot in Konoha, where he could have the chance to have a more _private _talk with those people. For now, he succumbed to the choice to remain silent. Even though he was a ninja trained to keep his mouth shut, Kakashi wasn't taking the chances that he could say an _unintended _word to them.

"We don't," the answer was stern and emotionless. "We even didn't know why we were sent here in the first place." The silver-haired teen paused for a while, and then approached the oldest one in their group, the bandaged man who seemed to rely on others to walk. "Although," he continued as he tugged the other ones clothes, "I have a feeling," He suddenly shot an eye far across Asuma towards Kakashi. A small smile formed in the teen's lips, but dissipated in the moment Asuma spoke again.

"A feeling?"

"Ninja-san, I don't want to make an impression of imprudence towards you," the teen responded. "But I would like to invoke you for us to bring us with you. And we'd answer your questions once we reached Konoha." He said, with his tone full of confidence and certainty.

"Hey, hey," Asuma suddenly spoke. "You're still a young ninja, but you speak like you're not a prisoner. You're showing arrogance, don't you think?"

"Ninja-san, discretion is one thing a ninja does when it comes to missions," the teen replied. "But I think you do know so well that arrogance is what a ninja needs when survival is of the essence. A ninja needs to fight, but then he needs arrogance to do so." He said, while smiling as he saw the Konoha ninja's expression changed from calm into vexed. Just like what their superiors said back in Iwa, you just need to push the right buttons and you can turn Konoha's ninjas into human torches.

"You sound so confident, kid." Asuma replied. "You're tongue has got some stinginess in it. Is that what they teach you back in Iwa? To use words against the enemy? You seem more like little kids throwing teases!"

"And why not the confidence? Do you think what I'm saying is pathetic?" The teen replied with no visible emotion in his face, yet he seemed to sound like challenging Asuma. "One thing is for sure, ninja-san; you'll not be able to hurt me even though how strong you are now."

"You disrespectful _prick_," Asuma was sure that he was going to hit the young man. Even though he was younger than he was, he had no qualms to teach the boy a little lesson. Impertinence was one of the things that Asuma hated, and it really pissed him off if it came from ninjas that were non-aligned to Konoha. Already fisting his hands, Asuma launched himself to give the boy one lesson of a lifetime.

"Asuma, you will not lay a finger against them," Kakashi spoke coldly, quickly stopping Asuma in his attack. What stopped him wasn't the order from the team leader of the particular mission – no, it was greater than that. It was so long ago that he'd heard Kakashi spoke in that way – a manner that could even topple a kage because of the sheer gravity of the voice. It was Kakashi's way of expressing his killing intent in some of his missions back then, and Asuma didn't like it much when the silver-haired jounin would turn back in that way. It seemed Kakashi's temper was spiking at a huge fraction, which was _never _good.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi; I just lost my patience." Asuma quickly answered, pulling back his hand away from the teen. He turned back and walked away; he didn't even know how much the boy could talk, and Asuma didn't want to lose his temper for another time. It was better for him to go away, rather than to invoke Kakashi's anger. _Damn_, there really was something going on in Kakashi's head.

"I told you; even though how strong you are, you will not be able to hurt me," the teen made sure that the older Konoha ninja heard that. Asuma shuddered when he heard him – he even felt that his chakra flared when his breaking point was suddenly shattered by merely one second. But since Kakashi had already made his move regarding the safety of the prisoners, Asuma had no choice but to stand-by. He sighed and got his cigarette from his vest. He lit it and used its calming taste to compose himself.

"You got a sharp tongue," Kakashi approached the teen, his lazy stature beginning to take prominence of his whole personality. "What's the name?"

"_Nebi_," the teen answered. "You must be the infamous Hatake Kakashi," Nebi spoke and tried to bow to him. "_Hajimemashite_, _sensei_."

"Sensei?" Kakashi replied, his lone eye gazing curiously at the younger one.

"My _senpai_ back in Iwagakure told us that even though an enemy, we must always pay respect to ninjas well-known because of their skills." Nebi answered, as he looked back at his teammates. "We believe that we must always give respect to our enemies, and, fortunately, you're one ninja that our _senpai _very well knows."

"Your senpai, huh?" Kakashi took the opportunity to send a questioning gaze back at Nebi. _Naruto?_

"_Hai_," Nebi replied, with the small smile returning to his lips. "A _student _just like us – _formerly_." With the simple statement, no doubt that Nebi was talking about the very person Kakashi was delighted to know about. _Yes, sensei_, _your beloved student._

"I must commend your senpai, then," Kakashi responded. "He knows very well that battle does not only show extreme courage and strength. It involves another aspect such as _respect_. If you do not give value to your adversary, you'd surely face consequences."

"_Value _your adversay?" Nebi replied. "Sensei, I must be hearing wrong. Shouldn't you first value your own _ally_?"

"That's already a given,"

"Really? Then why is it that some team always does not last long? For example, a certain squad leader _leaving _his subordinate to death?" Nebi flashed an eye disappointment towards Kakashi. "Perhaps it was the reason why our senpai had taken the belief to respect your enemies; perhaps because you don't really respect your allies – that's why you're giving it to your enemies instead. _Pitiful_. You know, I've heard some stories regarding the loss of some member be––"

Nebi wasn't able to finish his words when Kakashi's fist met up with his face. The force was enough to make the teen tumble down to the ground, his body falling helplessly to the dirty earth. Nebi's teammate quickly aided him and helped him recover from the surprise attack. After the encounter and after Nebi had stood back up, the teen looked with disgust back at Kakashi. Believing that he had said enough, Nebi had decided to recoil into silence to prevent any more injury more than he could sustain. _Damn_, he thought as he massaged his cheek, _that punch hurts!_

Asuma almost dropped his cigarette after seeing the whole interaction with his own eyes. Taken by surprise, Asuma wasn't able to say anything at first. He knew that Kakashi was still human because he had a temper just like all of them. But it was already widely known in the jounin ranks of Konoha that Kakashi had one of the highest patience in the village – it was very rare for Kakashi to lose his tolerance in a snap. But at the moment, Asuma knew that the boy had just broken the record for annoying Kakashi at his critical point. "_Oi!_ Kakashi! What did you just do?" He quickly exclaimed after recovering himself.

Shizune wore the same expression as Asuma did. The female member of the group, the one she was tending to, quickly ran towards Nebi, the one who was hit by Kakashi. Being left at her spot, Shizune was also taken by deep astonishment because of Kakashi's reaction. She was hearing the conversation between the two, but she knew that there wasn't really something in their statements. It was really natural for ninjas to strike a conversation to their prisoners, since it was the opening grounds for interrogation. But from the looks of it, even Kakashi had lost his cool just by talking with the teen, just like what happened with Asuma lately. Already calmed down, Shizune continued to observe what was going to happen next and prepared if she needed to intervene as necessary.

"Kakashi, speak to me!" Asuma spoke to Kakashi, his gestures showing that he was fretful already. The Konoha-nin could see the burning anger flashing all over Kakashi's lone eye, and it was directed to Nebi who just stood up after being hit by Kakashi. Asuma felt the danger when seeing Kakashi that way – there really wasn't any simple way to anger Kakashi that easily! "Stop now, before everything goes over out of control."

"Asuma may not be able to hurt you, but you failed to realize that I _can_," Kakashi spoke as he turned back away from Nebi, trying to compose himself after his sudden assault to the teen. "You indeed got a sharp tongue, but, next time, try to make it a little _blunt_."

"Nebi, are you fine?" The female Iwa-nin quickly checked the silver-haired teen.

"I'm fine, _Sumi _-chan." Nebi answered. "A little painful, but I'll live."

"I can't believe that you are even challenging the people who have _saved _us." Sumi responded to him. "You should even be grateful to them."

"Sumi-chan, they are our _captors_ now; there is now way in this world should we even be thankful for them." Nebi said, flashing his angry eyes towards Kakashi. "Even the sensei wanted me hurt,"

"That's because you overdid it," Sumi replied.

"_Damn _Kakumo for sending us here,"

* * *

As what the Tsuchikage had clarified a week ago, the latest mission involving Team Obsidian was requested by none other but the Intelligence Division of Iwagakure itself. The mission strictures of the whole assignment were restricted even to Ōnoki himself, but since the latter trusted the office greater than anything else inside the village, the mission was approved without too much questions asked. The Intelligence Division was, of course, grateful to the unending trust being given to them by the Tsuchikage, and was already focused upon the special mission they asked permission upon.

But, as always, there would always be moments that what had been planned would not go as _planned_.

Obito had finally got hand of the latest information that Team Obsidian was attacked by their fellow Iwagakure ninjas once they'd reached the territoriality of Kusagakure. It was really surprising Iwa-nins to be randomly attacking their allies, but it just went on as _planned _by the mind of the mission's progenitor. He sat alone on his chair inside his small residence in one of the tower structures of Iwagakure, pondering at the news he recently received. He could still not forget how the Tsuchikage had reminded him of who really he was in the military structure of Iwagakure, and Obito was so worried about the possible implications of the sudden loss of temperance in Ōnoki's side. Brooding wasn't really one part of him, but Obito could not stop himself to think.

He created the plan more than one month ago, just after the war Takigakure ended. He'd certainly told Kakashi that they would see each other again, and it wasn't just because he'd _missed _Kakashi that's was why he wanted to see him. No, his reasons wouldn't go as petty as that. Yes, he wanted to see Kakashi because he was already a friend to him, but there were other things that were more important to him. After all, he promised himself that he would be Kakashi's _pain_.

Obito wasn't oblivious of the fact that Iwagakure was sending official letters to Konohagakure just to affirm that their actions over Takigakure wasn't a really big thing to be worried about. As a hidden officer of Iwa, he really highly encouraged the village to continue sending letters as such, just to preserved whatever relationship that held Iwa and Konoha together. He'd even thought of writing one, and from there was the concept of a mission that was going to take place at the present time.

"_Ōnoki-jiji," Obito whined as he took a sit on the chair that was just in front of the Tsuchikage's table. "You really are a lazy kage, you know?" He commented as he wrote a letter that would later be sent to Konoha's office again. Obito was the third person who the Tsuchikage had asked to create a letter of explanation to their neighboring ninja villages and it seemed that Ōnoki_ _was planning to get more people working on it._

"_I'm not lazy, Obito," The Tsuchikage replied. "I just got too many things to do aside from that. After all, inter-village communication isn't at the top of my priorities." He continued to work on reading and signing some documents, not minding if Obito was taking some space on his table._

"_Ōnoki-jiji, you know, even though I approve sending these types of letters to different kages of the different ninja villages, I still believe that it does not do anything good for our side." Obito remarked as he wrote legibly on the delicate paper handed to him lately by his kage. "It seems that this type of communication is already _taken for granted_." He shared his thoughts to the Tsuchikage._

"_It's the norm," Ōnoki replied. "It's really better to stick to the standards, and give them the impression that we are not doing things out of the ordinary."_

"_But taking over another _ninja _village is _out _of the ordinary," Obito smirked._

"_I really doubt where your loyalties lie, Obito." The Tsuchikage answered in a nonchalant tone._

"_Of course it's to Iwagakure," he answered unconsciously. Ōnoki suddenly stopped what he was doing and observed how intently Obito was making the letter. The latter's eyebrows were already furrowing, perhaps due to the intricacies of making a formal letter. In those types of letters, the technicalities being used were always subjected to scrutiny, since one misunderstanding could ultimately lead into something uncontrollable. It was therefore crucial that one wrote in a manner of ultimate consideration to prevent misinterpretation._

_But what made the Tsuchikage look at the younger ninja was his previous answer. "You're loyal to Iwagakure?"_

"_What's the matter, Ōnoki-jiji? You're not happy with my answer?" Obito asked, with his somehow childish look gazed to the old kage in a slight pout._

"_You're answer is most ideal, Obito." The Tsuchikage replied with monotony. "Of course, every ninja believes that they must be loyal with their own ninja village, for it is their home. It is where their love ones live and it must be protected at all costs." Ōnoki looked away from Obito observing the door from the distance. "But coming from you…"_

"_I know, Ōnoki-jiji…" The younger one paused and put his pen down. He noticed that the Tsuchikage was looking far away from him and tried to look at the spot where his kage was looking. "You, of all people, must have the most rightful claim for me not to be trusted. After all, I did not come from Iwagakure." He contemplated for a while. He couldn't still get over as to how some ninjas in Iwagakure looked at him with contempt – especially those who knew his origin. It pained him, really, that he was still distrusted among the ranks. He sighed and then proceeded in making the letter._

"_Obito, I don't doubt your loyalty to the village." Ōnoki answered. "I'm just surprised that you didn't refer to _me_, the kage." The Tsuchikage told him._

"_The kage is the vital part of the village," Obito replied. "He's almost the heart and the brain of a ninja village – his importance cannot be neglected." The younger ninja looked at the eyes of Ōnoki, his eyes that were always full of optimism and hope. Eyes that Ōnoki had admired from the time that he had captured Obito, eyes that always told him something important from the beginning. "I couldn't deny you, Ōnoki-jiji, but there is always one thing I want to tell you." He stood up from his seat and left his letter-making for a while. "You are the strongest ninja in this village, and that's the reason to believe that I should not be working beside you."_

_It surprised the Tsuchikage, but he held himself for a while. He knew that Obito was going to say more._

"_You're strong; you don't need me anymore to protect you. What I have in mind is to serve the people – the citizens – of Iwa. It is them that need most of the help, right?" Obito smiled towards Ōnoki. "If the kage is the heart and the mind of the village, then its citizens are the soul that makes it alive. Forgive me for my bluntness, Ōnoki-jiji, but I'm more focused on making the village stay _alive _than making it _function_."_

_For another time, Ōnoki didn't have any other choice but to smile and be amazed with Obito's answer. The young ninja that he captured a long time ago was a void of unexpected things. He'd always felt that there was something in Obito, and now he seemed to uncover him slowly. Obito was a key for change – he'd believed it since his first answer to him. And he knew he would be continuing to nurture the young man who had grown into a formidable adult. The new generation never failed to amaze him._

The letter that he was making that time was the very product of his hopes and optimisms. The Tsuchikage had helped him a little while he made the words, and Obito was proud that he was able to make a letter that seemed devoid of any real information. After all, as he made the letter, he had hopes that Kakashi would be able to read it – notwithstanding the fact that even the famous Copycat would not always had the chance to look at documents such as the one that he made. He just risked writing the letter – that was all.

But, as he himself lied for being the Intelligence Chief, he also created a vicious misinformation from that very letter.

Naruto really didn't have any _gifts _for Kakashi.

Due to the fact that Naruto seemed to avoid Team Obsidian, Obito had made use of that fact to contract the said team into his plan. He had asked for the Tsuchikage to send Team Obsidian for a mission that was even unknown to his kage. His real purpose – to use Team Obsidian for reconnaissance inside Konoha and to make Kakashi _suffer _as well.

Team Obsidian was sent with the most discreet goal – investigate – but the whole constraints of the mission were not divulged. They were accompanied by Iwagakure ninjas that were to attack them when they reach Kusagakure, but with the strict order not to kill them. At the same moment, it was already expected that Kakashi had read the coded message and was at the same location as well. Kakashi, through the use of hypothetical psychology, was predicated to save Team Obsidian. Obito knew that sooner or later, Kakashi would know that it was the _gift _the letter was referring to.

That was the plan so that Team Obsidian could enter Konoha without too much difficulty.

But what Obito's real goal was far from that – to make Kakashi suffer.

Since Team Obsidian was Naruto's favorite team and at the same time the people that he was close to, Kakashi would try to protect them as much as possible while inside Konoha. Obito knew that the Copycat ninja would try his best just to look after the people who were close to Naruto. From then on, it would begin Kakashi's trial of endurance, the test Obito was willing to see. He'd like to know how Kakashi would suffer just trying to defend Team Obsidian for Naruto's sake. He'd like to hear how Kakashi would be suspected for trying to cover up for the Iwagakure ninjas they captured. He wanted to know how Kakashi would function as a ninja while being crushed by two villages whose eyes were hot on him. Kakashi would suffer, just like as promised.

Obito actually didn't mind if Team Obsidian would not _survive _their stay in Konoha because Kakashi wasn't able to protect them. If they _die_, then the blame would mostly go to Kakashi, since he left his responsibility of protecting the people that Naruto cared for. Either way, what events that would happen later could eventually lead to Kakashi's anguish – just as Obito wanted him in pain for what he did to Naruto. If Team Obsidian dies, Naruto would blame Kakashi – the ultimate whip to pain Kakashi. For Naruto, Obito would sacrifice Team Obsidian to make Kakashi endure torment.

But there seemed something different to what he had planned.

According to the latest reports to him, Team Obsidian was with another _unknown _ninja – a bandaged man who was supposed to be not included in the mission. There was a breach in the plans, and he still didn't know how it happened.

_I'm sorry, Naruto_, Obito thought as he felt remorseful for Team Obsidian.

* * *

"Sir, the scenario we expected happened at Kusagakure," a ninja reported in front of his superior, reading the words that were written in a piece of paper. "Team Obsidian was really expected to be captured by the Konohagakure ninjas."

"Hmm," the superior hummed in curiosity. "And?"

"We assume that the nature as to why Team Obsidian was captured was because they were _discretely _briefed to perform a reconnaissance and _espionage _in Konoha." The ninja reported. "But we still don't know why Team Obsidian was the team that was sent."

"Alright, you are dismissed for a while. Report to me if something happens to Team Obsidian or if the Intelligence Division does something." The superior told the ninja, just before the latter disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"_Obito_, just what are you planning to Team Obsidian, letting them perform a mission that is _S-class _of nature?" The man asked himself.

The Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, Ōnoki, stood from his seat and revealed a scroll that was _stolen _from the Intelligence Division itself. He remembered the time when Obito was finding that scroll, and when he inquired, the younger ninja answered that 'it was of great importance for the intelligence division.' Of course, just like any humans, Ōnoki also felt curious as to why the scroll was very important to him.

Soon afterwards, Ōnoki knew about the content of the mission that Intelligence Division had requested him some weeks ago.

"_Tsuchikage-sama… a-are you serious a-about this?" Akatsuchi was at total disbelief after Ōnoki revealed him information that came directly from the intelligence division. The big guard of the Tsuchikage was shaking because of disbelief, a feat that never occurred to the ninja._

"_There is no doubt that it is Obito's plan." The Tsuchikage answered._

"_But! Obito-san will never do this!"_

"_Akatsuchi, you have a long way to run." __Ōnoki told him. "You still have the time to learn about the simple truths in our village." The Tsuchikage started to write something on an official paper already signed by him. "I admire Obito because of his ideals, but you must also know that there are times that a ninja must take risks. Even though it's even hard for me to believe that Obito could make these decisions, I must accept that he's doing this for the sake of our village."_

"_B-but, it's Team Obsidian we're talking about here!" Akatsuchi replied, not minding if it was the kage he was speaking to. "Naruto didn't know about this."_

"_And we will keep this from Naruto," the Tsuchikage answered. "Naruto doesn't know a thing. Naruto doesn't even know that his Kakumo-ojisan is the Intelligence Chief. Just what do you think will happen if he knows everything?" __Ōnoki presented Akatsuchi a viable scenario that could possible happen in the future._

"_I-I understand, Ōnoki-sama. I'm sorry for my disrespectful attitude." The guard apologized to his kage._

"_Don't worry, I will make sure that Team Obsidian will make through the mission Obito gave them," Ōnoki told Akatsuchi. "Here," he raised the paper towards the guard, "bring me Uchiha Sasuke in this office."_

"_Why, sir?"_

"_We'll be sending him together with Team Obsidian, for him to protect them. Make sure that Obito will not be informed of this action that we will make. I don't want him knowing that I'm investigating something." The Tsuchikage explained, and made Akatsuchi hurry to find Sasuke._

_It was then he realized that he still needed to understand Obito. After all those years, Obito suddenly became the ninja that everyone aspired – an intelligent ninja and a powerful one. Obito was clearly an epitome of _deception_ – a ninja capable of pulling acts that always worked for him and always ended up in success. He was kind and caring for his allies, but he was cruel and unforgiving to his enemies. Obito was the very image of a ninja that was only loyal to the people, and would do anything for the people._

_But he was the very irony of the words that he would always answer. He'd always said things that enlightened the mind of the Tsuchikage, but it was clear that he was also that one that broke those very statements. Ōnoki was worried for Obito…_

"And that is how Sasuke ended in the mission Team Obsidian was sent for…" The Tsuchikage whispered to himself.

That time, he was sure that he was the one of the _right _track.

* * *

- **End of Chapter **-

Every people has a different side.

Does everyone know here that I _hate _Kakashi? :p

Thanks for reading and may you have a good day!


	5. Grievous Assault

**Author's message: **So I need to admit: I can work more if I'm being _pressured _to do so. Haha! Another chapter for Irony of Being a Ninja! Just like promised - another shorty!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

* * *

The Irony of Being a Ninja

**Chapter 5 – Grievous Assaults**

It merely took Kakashi and his assigned team to reach the territoriality of Kusagakure by one week. But due to the extreme caution being undertook by the team from Konoha, the week-long trip suddenly doubled in its length – even though they were almost still halfway to their destination.

He wouldn't let the others know, but Asuma was already beginning to feel tremendously impatient in their current pace. Not that he was being bothered to complain, but it was just very awkward that their team – a team consisting of ninjas with high _caliber_ – was traveling at such slow speed. He could easily interpret and give the rationale as to why they were travelling in such rate, but it was evidently obvious that it was _slower _than expected. It was already defeating the purpose of why they were at slow progress!

"Kakashi," Asuma finally called out the other jounin's attention, "do you think that _other _Iwagakure ninjas could follow us if we maintain this pace?" He asked, _discretely _trying to inform his fellow ninjas of one of the great disadvantages of lingering too long in travel.

"I know that," Kakashi replied. He shifted his hold of his favorite _novel_, though he didn't mind facing Asuma. "That's why I've chosen for us to move at this rate because it will be better for us. It's better for us to preserve our strength than to waste it on speed."

"And why is preserving our strength better than making haste?"

"Because we will have greater chances of success," Kakashi pointed out. "I do not discard the idea that some Iwagakure ninjas may be following us, that's why at this point we're prepared to face them. At this pace of ours, we can lure the ninjas that are following us and _finish _them for good." The silver-haired jounin replied, explaining to the other one his intention.

"I don't see why it will be better." Asuma said, finally opened his lighter to create a fire and lit his cigarette. "I finally got the part of moving slowly; conserving our energies can do us good when we encounter an enemy. But if we really try to _lure _them out…" He trailed his voice off, realizing that his idea was already palpable at his short statement alone.

Kakashi hummed for a brief moment, while still reading at his small book. Asuma turned his head towards the silver-haired jounin, waiting for his answer. "Don't worry; I already laid the plans." He closed the novel afterwards, looking at Asuma and towards Shizune too. "If you notice it, we're already at the territory of the Land of Fire. If I'm correct, the only people from Iwa that have the courage to past through here are the _traders_ and _businessmen _trying to make fortune. If there are still enemy ninjas still wandering around here and following us, then I can't deny that they needed to rethink the plans of ambushing us to continue their mission."

Actually, that made a point to Asuma's side. Sarutobi Asuma suddenly realized the _true _implication in Kakashi's idea. While they were still at Kusagakure's lands, travelling, it was like Kakashi was taunting the enemy to go out and _fight _them, so that they could wipe out the adversaries. Now that they reached the territory of Fire Country, Kakashi was goading them more to attack, since desperation would eventually call for it. But since Kakashi knew that they were nearly safe in those parts of the land, his enticement of the enemy turned into a barrage of hidden mockery.

It could ultimately lessen the enemy's morale to continue.

Asuma, already understanding the inference in Kakashi's plan, decided to shut his mouth and continue on with the mission. But his (and Shizune's) attention was caught when the silver-haired ninja spoke to them again. "But I understand the predicament, Asuma." He said. "Our rations are constantly being depleted and will not suffice for more days. And I know you're being _bored_," he sent a small crinkle in the eye, a gesture that meant that he was smiling under his mask. "Also, I don't like underestimating my enemies – we don't know if my _provocation_ can actually make them attack us." He stopped speaking and at the same time halted his movement.

"Asuma, Shizune, even though we're partly safe in this territory, I can't really breach our safety here." He motioned the two ninjas to move nearer to him. "I have a proposition. We can actually move faster back to Konoha, but in order to do that, we need to _split_." He paused upon seeing the bewildered reaction from the other two.

"But will that signal them the idea that we are aware of being followed?" Shizune asked quietly.

"_Precisely_," Kakashi replied. "When we start to split, any enemies within range will be surprised by our moves; thus, preventing them to do the appropriate action. I propose that Asuma take the bandaged man and _Moko _with him, while Shizune take _Sumi_. I and _Nebi_ will take the same route we're targeting, so that most of them will still focus their attention to us.

"I'll only tell you this _now_: once you feel that you're already far away from _us_, quickly go back to Konoha. Move ahead without us – I'll make sure we come back alive." Kakashi stopped speaking, while he ordered the other two to start moving, together with their assigned _prisoners_, after agreeing with Kakashi's plan.

After some minutes since Asuma and Shizune's departure, Kakashi decided that their pace should be maintained as not to make an impression _against _the enemy. With that, he reopened his novel and started reading where he had left off. After realizing that he hadn't have too much people now with him, Kakashi finally expressed the emotion stirring inside him – through his _weird giggling_. As more of the words from the novel were being read by his lone eye, it only made him crave for more.

Soon afterwards, another set of eyes were looking at him.

He faced the young man together with him and asked, "What?"

* * *

It was already a week since the time Ōnoki, the Sandaime Tsuchikage, decided to visit Takigakure for him to make a formal communication to its official leader, Shibuki. Knowing the obvious fact that Takigakure would ultimately accept the territorial subjugation being proposed by Iwagakure, Ōnoki had no doubts in his mind that there would be _no problem _arising from the talks. Even from the beginning, it had already seemed that fate already decreed that Taki would fall into Iwa's grasps.

Actually, he was, in totality, glad that Iwagakure conquered Takigakure. If they hadn't acted sooner, then Takigakure could have just defeated Kusagakure, a weak village in comparison. Just neighboring the ninja village in south, Takigakure had a good set of eyes to target a lowly ninja village for their domination. As Ōnoki had deduced even before the beginning of the war, the strength of Takigakure soared to even rival the power of the great ninja villages. Even from the continuous reports being sent during the outbreak of the conflict, Taki had surprised the Tsuchikage without fail.

Rallying almost ten thousand troops during its three-year isolation from the elemental world, Takigakure suddenly boasted a dangerous amount of ninjas already qualified for an invasion. The bandits and rouge ninjas that were hired, though not reaching an estimated number of five thousand, were roughly enough to bring a stable ninja village down into its knees. And it went all possible because it was _Kakuzu _who led the village during its seclusion.

Almost half a century ago, Kakuzu was one of the most prominent figures that were known all over the elemental countries. In fact, he was hailed as one of the heroes of Takigakure, a powerful ninja whose objectives were highly distinguished among his peers. The Tsuchikage could not fail to remember that Kakuzu was once a ninja that had been the hope of the people, a ninja that cared for his own citizen. But due to the event that involved him to challenge the Shodai Hokage, he was ultimately subdued and left his village elders to torment him due to his defeat, with him killing them and leaving Takigakure. With all the scrambling and confusions that happened during the latter years, Kakuzu suddenly reappeared as an Akatsuki member.

Even he turned out to be working on the _wrong _side of the field, Kakuzu maintained his capabilities as he had them in the past. Mobilization of whole Takigakure became possible because of him. But even though Kakuzu was still a great ninja as he was, there would always be moments that a great person would overstep and make a _mistake_.

Unfortunately, Kakuzu made a mistake in involving Iwa's sovereignty while he was making a power out of Takigakure.

Because of that, Ōnoki really didn't have a choice but to take vengeance to what happened to Iwa. With that, Taki's doom was already fated when Iwa took a step on the stage, for the latter could smite them in any means necessary and with no hesitations.

A set of knocks that sounded from the door halted Ōnoki train of thoughts. He raised his head and looked steadily at the wooden material covering the entrance. "It's open." He quickly told the person on the other side of the door.

Slowly, the door opened and revealed the always smiling figure of Obito, again, carrying with him some healthy amounts of papers and documents. He closed the door with his leg, since his hands were already full because of his load. He moved swiftly towards the Tsuchikage, who had taken the liberty to stand from his seat and personally receive the younger ninja. "Hey, Ōnoki-jiji, I got some more papers for you to read."

"No need for you to tell me that," Ōnoki slightly smiled as he accepted the papers from Obito. "When you bring stacks of papers, you always say the same thing." He placed the papers on top of his table, pushing it in the center and placing a heavy piece of wooden material atop of the stack. "Although, I prefer listening from your briefings; these go aside for now."

"Alright, old man." Obito replied and inspired some air to begin his report. "As we have expected, the Daimyo of Waterfall Country has expressed their deep disappointment and disagreement with Taki's decision to be absorbed as an extraterritoriality of Iwa. This happened almost three days ago, four days after you have performed an official visit and talk with Shibuki." He looked at the room's ceiling, trying to remember the significant pieces of information he should relay. "The reconnaissance group hasn't returned yet, so we can't still confirm if the samurais under the Waterfall Country's Daimyo are really being mustered as part of their mobilization to take _actions _against Taki's decision."

"Doesn't the Waterfall Daimyo realize that what he is doing is a pre-emptive incitement of war?" Ōnoki blurted out.

"It does not look like he doesn't mind either," Obito replied. "According to the reports coming over our central intelligence office, the Earth Daimyo expressed no intention in meddling with our decision. The Waterfall Daimyo is deeply upset and _fazed _with this."

"So it's desperation that pushed him to make this decision," Ōnoki responded, scratching his beard as he started to pace around the room. "It puts us in another round of difficulty, I see."

"The other countries and villages seemed not to make a move against this, but we can't miss the impression of distress and aggression from their sides." Obito told his kage.

Ōnoki tried to remain silent, as he tried to think of the possible implications of what Obito told him. But deep in his thoughts, he actually didn't care yet on the possible things that might happen in the next days. He had actually postulated that the other villages could not do anything with what Iwa was doing. The other villages knew that they were still at disadvantage if they try to make an interference just to stop with the Taki subjugation. Possibly, it was Kumogakure that had the only capability to make a stand, but the Tsuchikage knew that the Raikage would not make a fuss – the ninjas of Takigakure alone were enough to halt his ninjas' march.

What was actually bothering him was the situation about Team Obsidian and Sasuke.

"Obito," Ōnoki spoke to the younger one, which the latter was attracted to, "I suddenly remember the ninjas you dispatched for a mission." He could easily see the distress that was forming in Obito's face. "You wouldn't mind telling it to me?" He asked him, with his face showing that he wouldn't take a 'no' for an answer. The Tsuchikage had risked his ninjas to be brought to Kusagakure, and that was reason enough for him to demand a status report from the man who requested it.

"Ōnoki-sama, I'm sorry to report to you that Team Obsidian…" Obito trailed his voice off, not sure if he was going to divulge the latest outcome of the mission "has been captured by Konoha ninjas." Obito Uchiha tried to peek to see the reaction from Ōnoki, already expecting an outburst from the old man. He waited patiently for the Tsuchikage to open his mouth and speak of his anxiety, anger and verdict of the situation. But after some seconds of waiting, Obito was surprised to see that he was still calm as he'd seen him lately.

"I'm expecting that, Obito, after all, Team Obsidian is still a team that needs more experience from the field." This proclamation coming from the Tsuchikage who valued much of his troops deeply struck Obito. "You can leave now, Obito, and continue finding information and intelligences." He started walking out of the room, his mind in deep thoughts as to why the Tsuchikage was still so peaceful after revealing to him that Team Obsidian was captured. He was suddenly cut off from his thoughts when the kage spoke again. "_Sasuke _can help Team Obsidian with the task I gave to him."

The realization dawned to Obito.

"Ah, I also want to tell you that I brought Naruto here with me." Ōnoki had a sly smile with him, though Obito didn't see him. Having Naruto at his side could flip the coin in any other way he _wanted_.

* * *

He faced the young man together with him and asked, "What?"

Nebi returned the gaze given to him by the silver-haired jounin. He had a look of slight dissatisfaction and a hint of fear, which Kakashi didn't fail to notice. After some seconds that their eyes were locked up in a deep gaze, Nebi broke off from the contact and sighed. "I thought it will take him more days to _realize_."

"What are you talking about?"

"Sensei, don't play dumb with me." Nebi retorted. "I know what's playing in your mind."

"It seems that you are the observant one, Nebi." Kakashi finally closed his novel and returned it inside his vest pocket. He tried to move his head to his sides, trying to survey the surrounding in quick glances. "So how'd you know I am planning something?"

"It's obvious from the start, sensei." The teen replied, wiggling his head as to adjust the bangs that were dangling in front of his eyes. "Once we reach Konoha, you know it will be difficult for you to make contact with us. And you know it's such a pain that you will not be able to do so." He looked at the Copycat ninja. "So you are trying to take all the time you can so that you can speak to us, Naruto's kōhai." He stopped. "Am I right, sensei?"

"I applaud your sense of thought," Kakashi commented. "But I'm more interested on how you discovered this _plan _of mine. How?"

"To sum it all up, what you were planning from the beginning was to split the group up so that you can have the chance to speak with one of us," Nebi started his own interpretation of Kakahi's little plan. "If you don't mind me, sensei, but I must call you a sarcastic bastard for using this one to split us up." Even how much he hid it, Nebi could not easily obscure the hint of amusement forming in his face, which Kakashi could easily see. "You _intentionally _made your way back to Konoha in a very slow pace for them to _complain_. I know that you have in mind to split us up, but I know you also recognize that your teammates may even be curious as to why you want to do so. After all," he paused for a while to wriggle out his bangs again, "there is safety in numbers when taking hostages back.

"In order for them not to suspect you of something, you made them complain first so that you can _propose _something that will still run in your advantage." Nebi ended his explanation.

"Very good, Nebi." Kakashi was actually startled because of the teen. "You've read every action of mine. If you hadn't been silent back there, then you might have given them a hint regarding my true purpose." The silver-haired jounin approached the silver-haired chuunin. "But, from the looks of it, it seems that you don't have any intentions of spilling my secrets."

Nebi tried to avoid looking at Kakashi's unreadable face. He moved his head away from the direction and thought of words to better explain his side. "No, I don't want to tell them. After all, I have already thought of trying to know what kind of sensei did Naruto-senpai had in the past." Nebi added more. "And I want to apologize for rubbing salt in your wound, sensei. I just don't know when to throw the blame, and I tend to do it unnecessarily."

Kakashi listened to the teen as he pondered in his thoughts. It was unexpected that someone from a rival village would make an apology, but Kakashi couldn't really make a quick judgment just because he was from a particular place. But what surprised him more was that the young man together with him wanted to know something about him. In all his life, he knew he was only an interesting man because of what he did in the past and because of the surreal amount of enemies he made back then. But, at that time, he was wanted to be known because of his _student_. It was a new type of idea that suddenly littered his mind, but it gave him a feeling of _awkwardness _and _guilt_. Apparently, Nebi _indirectly _assaulted him days ago because they seem protective of their senpai – Naruto. It was really nice to know that there were some people that tried to protect Naruto, aside from Obito who even tried to hurt him back in the war.

But what didn't seem to equate was that Nebi was trying to know something about him – he still didn't know if his curiosity was rooted out from a _good _or a _bad _thing.

"How's Naruto this time?" Kakashi started to ask, since he wanted to avoid the one thing he didn't want to think of.

"He's overprotective as I've known of him," Nebi shared. "Last time we performed a mission together with him, all of his goals were done with the consideration of our safety." He paused for a while. "But, recently…"

After Nebi trailed off, Kakashi hadn't heard at least a single word from the ninja.

* * *

**Sunagakure, Wind Country**

**The same day**

The deserts in the southwestern portion of the map, those that which were located in the Lands of Wind country, were always harsh to the travelers, who would often try their best to travel into a certain village by that location. The blistering sun lashed its power out in the open wilderness, unmercifully burning up almost anything under its light. The wind fared no better – as it howled across the barrens, it carried with it sharp minute sands that could scratch an unknowing traveler. The harshness started in the day, and it would persevere until the night.

But in the center of the seeming wasteland was a village trying to live by thriving against the harsh environment. It was a ninja village that had flourished since the ages when ninja villages started to appear many decades ago. And being one of the great ninja villages that represented one of the foundations of power among the rest, this particular village hidden among the sand was one of the villages that held power that could match those of the others.

_Sunagakure_, the Hidden Village among the Sand.

The Kazekage looked vexed at the weather that continuously lambasted Suna all over the years. Even though the village had been built to withstand the capabilities of the sand and wind, the weather conditions still posed a varying threat to the people living inside. Sandstorms were never a rare occurrence inside the village; it had already become a sign of a birthright to those who originally came and lived from Suna. As those great storms ravaged the village, windows would often rattle from their frames, signifying the bombardment of the millions of sands and powerful winds that filled the whole place.

And every after a storm would come the shining light of the sun – and its power multiplied by the lack of clouds that could temporarily cover its great heat.

It had been the routine inside Sunagakure. With everyone amazingly learning to discover the telltale signs of an incoming sandstorm, the citizens – civilians and ninjas alike – seemed to move in a synced script that everyone was aware about. The people would always often try to maximize the time that they had before a storm came, and would still persist to last long outside just after it receded. Being a village that was secluded due to ragged mountains and dry wasteland, there were no other options aside from _living_ – if one had not grasped the idea of _dying_.

The Kazekage was brought out from his musings when someone knocked from the door, which promptly opened afterwards. The Kazekage, still a teen in his age, was a thinly built man with a red hair and a blank expression written in his face. He would often be seen having some dark rings around his eyes, suggestive of the apparent lack of sleep. But even though he was robbed off his sleep, he would always still perform in his best – his pledge had held him deeply and would do most of what he could for those he wanted to help.

"Kazekage-sama," a deep tone called out. "The Ambassador from Iwagakure had arrived." He motioned somebody from outside to come inside the room, his eyes narrowing due to impatience and irritation. But since the emissary from Iwa had taken all necessary things for the arrival in the village and had not caused trouble yet, the one who received the ambassador seemed to need more tolerance for the time being.

The Kazekage merely looked at the appearance of the person that came over from Iwagakure. Due to the lack emotion in his face, the ambassador could not discern the expression that was etched in the kage's face. "I am _Kurotsuchi_ of Iwagakure, one of the personal guards of the Tsuchikage. I am sent here to relay a direct message to you, _Gaara of the Desert_, the Godaime Kazekage, from the Tsuchikage himself, Ōnoki-sama." She bowed to the Kazekage, which Gaara returned with a curt nod.

"Kurotsuchi-san, I don't want to impose something, but I just want to point out that your _sudden _visit here in Suna is a little unorthodox by your standards," the man who attended to her spoke after she'd introduced herself. "Be grateful that the Kazekage had accepted you even though he's busy."

Kurotsuchi took a look at the man who spoke to her. She wanted to glare at him, for suddenly intruding in a very formal conversation. But as courteousness called for it, for the betterment of future relations, she chose to remain discreet and displaced the idea of glowering at the man. Instead, she returned his head towards Gaara's direction and started to explain. "The message being relayed to the Kazekage is a direct message coming from the Tsuchikage. It is rather conveyed this way because our kage fears the interception of this message."

"Just hand it over to the Kazekage, Kurotsuchi-san." The man spoke again.

"I can't," Kurotsuchi answered. "Unless I'm left _alone_ with the Kazekage."

"That's a serious breach in regulations!" The man yelled. "Even though you're––"

"_Baki_-sensei, let her continue to explain." Gaara cut off the man from speaking, easily halting the man in his words.

"Kazekage-sama, I must relay you the message personally and without any other people around." Kurotsuchi continued.

"There are no formal _written _letter that came from the Tsuchikage, isn't that correct?" Gaara asked the kunoichi inside his office.

"_Hai_, that is correct, Kazekage-sama. To prevent the possible interception of this message, he personally asked me to come by here for me to relay it to you."

"I understand," Gaara responded. "Baki, leave the room immediately."

Baki tried to complaint to the kage, but it seemed that the latter wasn't minding him already. Once Gaara had made up a quick decision, nobody could easily refuse. What Baki was worried about was that the kunoichi from Iwa might hurt him. Gaara also needed them whenever he was in danger, even though his sand would protect him in all its capability. For that moment, it seemed that he needed to wait for a while.

**o o o**

After ten minutes, the door of the Kazekage's office suddenly burst from its hinges, quickly ending up into multiple pieces. Baki and the ninjas inside the Kazekage's tower quickly hurried into the location of their kage to see what had happened there. Baki was more than worried and was already feeling some guilt after deciding to leave the Kazekage by himself. By the time that they'd reached Gaara's office, they were surprised to see the scenery.

Kurotsuchi was still standing in the center of the office, her face unfazed by the attack Gaara made, which destroyed the door. From the looks of his face, Gaara seemed to lose his patience and attempted to bring the fear out of the woman standing in front of his table. With the sand slowly trickling its way back to the gourd Gaara always carried, the office was gradually being cleaned off the sand that scattered from the attack.

"If that is your answer, Kazekage-sama, then I should hurry back and tell it to the Tsuchikage." Kurotsuchi answered with no fear in her voice and still full of confidence. She slowly moved out of the office and landing her gaze towards Baki. She did not say anything to him. She proceeded out of the tower until she was gone out of their sight.

Acting quickly, Baki ordered three cells of ninjas to follow the Iwa-nin. Afterwards, he quickly went to the side of his Kage.

"_Gaara_," it was so rare for him to call him informally. "What happened?"

"Baki, I want you to prepare our ninjas and cut off the number of people taking missions into _half_. I want most of those ninjas back into this village as soon as they can and avoid giving missions that involved too much distance and time from here." Gaara stood up from his seat and started to walk out from the room. "I want you to amass our number and be prepared for a _possible _attack from _Iwa_."

Baki could only gape in surprise.

* * *

- **End of Chapter **-

OH NO! Sunagakure is in the stage already! Haha!

Can't wait to know what will happen next!

Thanks for reading! Have a good day.

Ja ne!


	6. Diplomacy

**Author's Message: **I'm very, very sorry for the late update. Academic things slowed me down to zero. Seriously, I don't want to study anymore.

**Warning: **This chapter is a drag. I'm sorry, but I'm preparing for the better chapters for later.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

* * *

The Irony of Being a Ninja

**Chapter 6 – Diplomacy**

"Ōnoki-sama _needs_ Sunagakure to remain neutral in its stance regarding the actions being done by Iwagakure," Kurotsuchi started as soon as she felt that the Suna ninja was away from the office. "Better yet, he wants the Kazekage to formally address itself _under _a decree of _mutualism_ with Iwagakure." The woman paused for a while, waiting for any response from the kage.

Gaara remained seated on his chair; his face didn't reveal any expression.

Kurotsuchi observed the Kazekage with wariness, though she kept herself composed. Impressions were one of the things that ninjas used in everyday conversations and meetings, and she knew that the both of them were trying to instill hardy impressions on each other. She knew that the Kazekage was trying to show her that he was the emotionless one, undaunted by the silent threat she gave him. While she herself was trying to become the newcomer who wore the pride of her origins, telling the Kazekage that intimidation was a poor response. As long as she was in that office, she knew that both of them would not let their stance falter and weaken before other one's eyes.

Kurotsuchi waited. According to reports given to her by the intelligence division, the Kazekage before was a ninja of _unpredictability_, but not in the sense the world itself apply. She was informed that the person she was talking to was once _slightly _mentally unstable – a ferocious ninja that never tried to distinguish what was the difference between an ally and an enemy. According to records that Iwagakure held, Gaara held one of the feared great beasts – the One-tailed Shukaku. He never had a good control of it in the past – he was actually one of the main characters during the Otogakure-Sunagakure-Konohagakure war during the Chuunin exams that happened almost three years ago. But, as obvious as it looked, there had been some kind of transformation that happened to the young man. His position as Suna's kage could perhaps be a testament that he did something for the village – a sign of his better control to the beast inside him, a symbol of his change of self. Though it seemed that he had been better now, Kurotsuchi knew more on how to be prepared.

Still, silence littered the room. There was a definite aura that was starting to grow, enveloping the room with uneasiness. Their silent battle was being reinforced by their will to outwit one another, and their pride as a ninja – and for their village – was giving them more encouragement to stand strong. Kurotsuchi was staring to find Gaara's silence intimidating and a sign of his fortitude. It was very irritating to let someone wait for an answer, but she had already reasoned that it was no simple question that she fired against him. But Gaara's unwilling face, as she was observing, could have been a telltale sign of his endurance. Perhaps he was already reluctant in answering her from the start, and what he was doing was to delay her. If it was indeed the battle of wills, and if Gaara was already decided in his stand, then it seemed she was fighting a losing skirmish by waiting.

"I do not want to impose on you, Kazekage-sama, but time is of the essence." Kurotsuchi spoke now, her tone whipping a hint of slight vexation.

"If you value the time you're wasting upon me," Gaara finally replied, standing from his seat as he answered back, "then you must already know that I will not accept what the great Tsuchikage is recommending me to do."

Kurotsuchi flashed a set of dangerous eyes against the leader of Sunagakure, prompting him for another silent battle that started from the very wills that brought them in their present situation. "Kazekage-sama, it seems that I heard you wrong."

"Kurotsuchi-sama, a very loyal guard of the Tsuchikage, I don't play word games." Gaara said curtly, his face still not showing any emotions. "What you heard came from my mouth – and that is the word that came from this village's kage."

"Kazekage-sama, you very well know what consequences your village will face if you keep on resisting to what our kage wants." This time, Kurotsuchi dropped her formal pleasantry and aimed to tell the Kazekage of how determined was she for the latter to recognize the proposition her kage wished. She was a ninja of Iwagakure, after all – she would then be known for her rock-hard endurance. But in reality – she knew this herself – that the trait branded to them meant differently from her: her fortitude was rather an idiosyncrasy that made her rather resistant. She was persistent, but very defiant as well. She would not accept what the Kazekage was showing her.

"You seem to be threatening me," Gaara responded, equally flaring his chakra as a show of force against the kunoichi. The gourd that was placed near his table trickled with sand, the dry soil slowly flooding the floor where it fell. "Remember that you are in the Land of the Country of Wind."

"I am very well aware of that, Kazekage-sama." Kurotsuchi replied. "But may I just relay to you the message the Tsuchikage gave me if so ever that you turn down his request: Sunagakure will suffer the same fate Takigakure received when it failed to address the sovereignty of Iwagakure. The balance had just tipped in favor of you when the Tsuchikage had given you the opportunity to answer in his simple request, but you've lost it the same day it came to you." The kunoichi smiled with eeriness, a small shrewdness playing upon her lips. "Come what may, Suna will _fall_."

Sands that trickled from Gaara's gourd suddenly shot up from the floor and formed tendrils of dangerous spikes, aiming towards the kunoichi. The latter remained unperturbed by the attack and stood without fear. The sands hit everything inside the room, destroying everything in an instant. Things that belonged to the Kazekage were shattered into multitude of pieces, adding to the amount of dust that settled with sands. Until finally the door burst opened, removing it from its hinges and blasting it away with great ease.

Ten minutes had just past and the small roar across the corridors of the building-spire had attracted the attention of Baki and the building guards.

Kurotsuchi was still standing in the center of the office, her face unfazed by the attack Gaara made, which destroyed the door. From the looks of his face, Gaara seemed to lose his patience and attempted to bring the fear out of the woman standing in front of his table. With the sand slowly trickling its way back to the gourd Gaara always carried, the office was gradually being cleaned off the sand that scattered from the attack.

"If that is your answer, Kazekage-sama, then I should hurry back and tell it to the Tsuchikage." Kurotsuchi answered with no fear in her voice and still full of confidence. She slowly moved out of the office and landing her gaze towards Baki. She did not say anything to him. She proceeded out of the tower until she was gone out of their sight.

Acting quickly, Baki ordered three cells of ninjas to follow the Iwa-nin. Afterwards, he quickly went to the side of his Kage.

"_Gaara_," it was so rare for him to call him informally. "What happened?"

"Baki, I want you to prepare our ninjas and cut off the number of people taking missions into _half_. I want most of those ninjas back into this village as soon as they can and avoid giving missions that involved too much distance and time from here." Gaara stood up from his seat and started to walk out from the room. "I want you to amass our number and be prepared for a _possible _attack from _Iwa_."

Baki could only gape in surprise.

**An hour later**

The sandstorm had moved away from the lands of Suna, leaving the large village under the blistering heat of the sun. It was so normal that the people of Suna experienced such extremes in the weather conditions – the sandstorm would always persevere, leaving the civilians and ninjas alike inside the confines of their homes, while the sun would always torch everything every after the storm, steaming the entire village with no mercy. It was very ironic that they needed to wear such amount of clothes to cover their body in a place where heat seemed to rule – well, that would be the assumption in the beginning. But when one experiences what Suna always did, then the realization would surely come.

The event that ensued inside the office of the Kazekage still remained inside the building-spire. Some ninjas were cleaning the mess that blotted the small office, while some more others were placed in a heightened alert. In the fullness of Sunagakure's capability to fend off for themselves, it seemed obvious the very present problems that plagued the village. Since Sunagakure was still trying to recover from the massive conscription that happened almost three years ago in its war against Konoha, and the sudden decrease of available missions that caused the former's occurrence, the numbers of Sunagakure ninjas was still flaring in a low-average. Even though Sunagakure had entered in an education program with Konoha in response to this, its ninja population had expressed their concerns about sacrificing the quality of learning their students receive. For the betterment of their graduates, Sunagakure still retained its former number of student ninjas and examinees, so as to give them better focus from their senseis.

Three years weren't still enough to cover up for the fewer amounts of ninjas the village had. Just after submitting to Konohagakure that fateful day, elemental countries had received Suna's explanations that they'd been toyed by Orochimaru, the snake sannin that was expelled from Konoha. Still, relations went too bad that Suna almost fell as one of the five great ninja villages. But the expressed concern of Konoha in wanting a peaceful world had reached them; in an excruciatingly slow progress, Konoha was able to get the trust of Suna – as opposed to the belief that it should have been Suna that did so to Konoha. The aggression of Suna slowly diminished, equated with Gaara being chosen as the Godaime Kazekage of Suna. Stabilization was one thing that started out immediately in Suna, but there were always old things that stirred up the village, and forever would it plague the dreamed prosperity.

The meeting hall inside the Kazekage's tower was one – if not – of the most critical locations in the Hidden Sand Village. Since most of the population in Suna was consisted of ninjas from varying ranks, most of the power was held predominantly by those ninjas. Civilian population was always respected, but they share a fewer number, their concerns minimal. In that same day, an emergency meeting was called out by the Kazekage, as an immediate response to the event that ensued an hour ago.

"As a measure that was agreed upon and implemented," an old voice commenced the meeting, "we shall be going first to the matter that we left out three days ago." There were curt nods from the different heads representing much of the population living in Suna. Gaara seemed not impatient that his matter would come later. After all, what they were talking about last time was so related to the present event that it might need a more focused review. "Let the scribe start with the matter at hand for this meeting."

"It has been two months since Takigakure had accepted the territorial subjugation offered by Iwagakure. Reports showed that there had been an increased amount of military activity inside the walls of Takigakure, and this has started some few days after the village had acquiesced to Iwagakure. The last report we received three days ago stated that the Waterfall Country's Daimyo is preparing for an assault that may be coming from Takigakure, since our spies reported that the former was being threatened by Takigakure's motives." A ninja from the other side of the room said aloud.

"As we've discussed about it last time, it's indeed obvious that this 'territorial subjugation' is a concise term for Iwagakure capturing the whole country of Waterfall itself." Baki spoke, as a proud member of the advisory panel. "Konohagakure expressed the same theory as well."

"There are also scattered information of some unusual ninja activities in some areas near Takigakure, Otogakure, Konohagakure, Kusagakure, and Sunagakure as well." Another voice spoke as well. "Our assessment reveals that it was the same pattern that was used by Takigakure to initiate its methods in declaring a war against Kusagakure. We think that it might be related."

"Perhaps not," Gaara suddenly intruded in the conversation, which made him attract the attention of all the heads inside the meeting hall. "I've sent Kankurō in a mission to investigate those happenings. He had just returned yesterday and found out that there were certain underground and hidden fortresses that were scattered across the borders of Suna." He said, as he tried to recollect the information he'd read from Kankurō's own report. "He said that those locations were related to our reports concerning Orochimaru."

"Orochimaru?" Another member of the advisory panel, the man named Gōza, suddenly spoke aloud. "The Snake Sannin was _said_ dead at the time the war ended between Kusa and Taki."

"That matter is still subject for confirmation," Baki responded, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Even though the sannin was originally Konoha's problem, his amassment of dangerous activities had infiltrated even the deepest reaches of our borders. His presence in our territory has also become a top priority to respond to." He continued, looking at Gaara who seemed not to be faring well. And it bothered him. Even though Gaara was the usual emotionless man he had been, the young man had always contained his emotions with too much professionalism. But as he observed the face of his Kazekage, there was an obvious distraught that was written all over his face. _Not good, it seems_, he thought, returning his gaze back to Gōza**.** "But apparently, his death – _disappearance _will be a better term – is most related to the _unrest _among these fortresses."

"Unrest?" Gōza shot a curious look.

"Without the slave driver, the slaves are free to move in their own accord." Baki replied. "In short, it is coincidence that these unusual ninja activities running across different borders of some villages and countries were the repercussion of Orochimaru unable to contain his minions." He fixed the bandage covering the left part of his face. "Even Otogakure is being dissipated apart."

Sajō, another member of the panel, began to take his opportunity to speak. "Be it because of Orochimaru's absence or still his plan, we couldn't let them have at us." His voice was firm and challenging, a tone that was mostly directed to the most superior person in the village. He looked at Gaara with his slanted eyes. "Kazekage-sama, I humbly request your utmost action regarding this event. Let us quell the chaos that is rising. I suggest this too as a move that will show our resolve against enemies that will go against Sunagakure."

"I highly disapprove of your plan, Sajō," Gōza replied. "In these unsteady times, we don't need to make another impression to the elemental world. _Two _aggressions happening in the same year is enough to shake the stability of the elemental countries. Add us and it will break the last thread of this already _unstable_ peace."

Baki looked at Gōza with deep observance. _Two he said_, Baki restated in his mind. With no more thoughts in his mind, he'd assumed that he was referring to Takigakure and Iwagakure. Those were the two villages that suddenly ravaged the elemental countries within the same period of time. Takigakure had been blinded by the belief that it became superior during the time of its isolation to the world, and the poor citizens of the village had been the final victims of the leader who they hadn't yet identified. It seemed to him that the chaos was escalating well.

"We'll not suppress the _unrest_." Gaara spoke up.

"Kazekage-sama!" Sajō interjected. "But it will surely affect us!"

"I told you, Sajō. What's most important to do is to keep what is left of the 'peace' we're experiencing now." Gōza replied. "These aggressions must be stop."

"I think we'll not be able to stop those aggressions you say," Gaara looked deeply into the eyes of the adviser, before letting it drift across the faces inside the room. "Perhaps, there will be no stop in these hostilities."

Someone from the group asked Gaara what he was talking about.

"Most of you are aware of what transpired lately," Gaara started to explain. "A representative from Iwagakure arrived, bearing some message from the Tsuchikage." He saw Baki staring at him with the most curious of expressions. He almost forgot to explain _everything _to him lately. "It's unfortunate for me to say that Iwagakure has brought some ill-intentions _against _our village." As his last sentence was spoken, the war room itself, as if listening and feeling the tension rising from the souls inside, went into a halt. And that was the opportunity Gaara needed to tell them what Kurotsuchi, one of the Tsuchikage's loyal guards, conveyed to him.

* * *

For one week, Obito had remained silent that it already got into the nerves of the ANBU squad that was always together with him. It was true that in one point of their time, those ANBUs wished that Kakumo would finally keep his mouth shut for eternity, but what was happening that moment was so unnerving and _unconventional_, speaking of Kakumo's unworldly loquaciousness. The reason of the sudden change in personality, they were yet to know, but, for now, they needed to perform their tasks less the voice that brought some vexation and color at the same time.

They were still travelling their ways back to Iwagakure from accompanying the Tsuchikage to his journey to Takigakure, where all the repairs and re-conscription were happening. Most of the resources of Iwagakure had been devoted to re-structuring the old and destroyed form of Taki, because Iwa's goal was to re-fortify the Hidden Village of Waterfalls for expected events that would come in the future. They were taking all of their time to repair the totality of Taki, since Iwa was sure that they were in a window period where none of the villages would go _against _it.

But since there was still an unsteady – an already _undeclared _war – situation looming over the Country of Waterfall, Kakumo's convoy had no choice but to take the longer and slower path back to Iwagakure. It seemed that the discussion between Iwagakure and the Daimyo of Waterfall Country was failing miserably, and it was already taking a wild turn into a dangerous way. Yet, even with the turn events moving into an unwanted situation, Iwagakure had already deemed itself victor to what would transpire – so be if the Daimyo of Waterfall Country go against its will. The detour Kakumo's group made was to ensure that they'd not make any action that could be misinterpreted by Waterfall Country. Not that they could not take those samurais… it was just the plan.

Obito was walking slowly but as if determined to make his way back to Iwagakure with no fail. It seemed that if he had the chance to jump into the trees and speed his way back, he would have leapt on the clouds instead. But, as the ninja trusted to be one of Iwa's most formidable and clever, Obito had even reconsidered _thrice_ the safest and the most _effective _way to go back to Iwa. He needed to do so, not just because for the reason of success and all, but for the _safety _of the people together with him. He actually hated that he needed some escort back. He can totally protect himself! He seemed goofy and unserious and a bastard and a… anyways, but he could trample any ninja that would come in his way. _Except Akatsuki though_, he thought. _Powerful, powerful bastards_.

But he was no fool, he reconsidered in his mind. _Ōnoki-jiji knows what I am doing_. He pondered, as he tried to remember the conversation he had before he and the party departed from Takigakure.

"_You and Ōnoki-sama," the ninja started as he sorted the scrolls inside the Intelligence Division office created inside Takigakure, "it always seems you're playing 'stick throwing.'"_

"_Stick throwing?" Kakumo, who was trying to write legibly on a piece of letter, raised his head and looked at the man. "What do you mean, Himatsu-san?" He threw the question before he returned his _partial _attention to the paper, while letting his ears remain on the words that would come out from the other's mouth. Expecting a quick answer, he briefly looked at Himatsu and nodded at him curtly._

"_Both of you are trying – I don't really know – to prove something to each other." Himatsu started, but after a while staring at the falling stack of scrolls which earned him a chuckle from Kakumo."You, Kakumo-san, are trying to prove that you can go against Ōnoki-sama." He raised a pleading hand before Kakumo, who started to rant with his 'I'm-not-trying-to-go-against-him' statement, for him to pause and hear his words. "I know," he answered Kakumo's argument, and continued, "but that would be the best term to be used for the moment." Kakumo stopped. "And we all are aware in the Intelligence Division that Ōnoki-sama well knows what you are trying to do." He looked at Kakumo, who was starting to form a scowl. "I don't know what's going on with his mind. Ōnoki-sama should have done something already, but it is still as if he is not considering _your _matter seriously."_

"_He's challenging me, obviously." He said, as he continued to concentrate to make a stroke out of the words that he was putting in the paper. "He is looking in how much I can do and how far I am going to last."_

"_That's what I'm trying to say – both of you are throwing sticks at each other." He said, smiling weakly. "You both threw sticks, you got hit, but you don't mind it. It's just a stick – who would mind the _little pain _it creates? Those sticks are like attacks that you are willing to give and receive; you wouldn't even mind being hit because you all know it wouldn't be able to hurt you." He started to restack the scrolls. "It also implies that both of you know that you are going against each other."_

"_Well, it seems I understand the logic," Kakumo answered._

"_But, Kakumo-san, it would just be a while before one of you try to throw a lumber…"_

It seems that I've been hit by one_, Kakumo mused. "We will now know… Perhaps it's indeed difficult to see what goes on inside Jiji's mind."_

"_What's most disturbing is that I'm more disturbed of what's going on inside your mind…"_

_The words made Kakumo stop._

"_What?"_

"_Never mind," Himatsu replied nervously. He shifted his attention on maintaining balance on a stack of scrolls, which were currently in his hands. Trying not to look at his chief, Himatsu struggled not to let the other one see the trickle of sweat that quickly formed on his face. His heart started to beat faster! He had heard that tone from Kakumo before, and he had seen the aftermath of what occurred when that tone sounded. Kami… he had once wished he'd never known Kakumo when _that _happened before. "As I remembered, you were asking the others about Naruto-san." He raised the topic, trying to appease his chief with a matter that was of grave importance to him._

"_I almost forgot," Kakumo's sudden shift of mood vaporized within a matter of seconds. "They too didn't know of Naruto." _Damn, Ōnoki-jiji and his tactics_, he thought. "My plan was nearly toppled flat because of what Jiji did." He placed the paper and his brush away, interlacing his hands and observing Himatsu from his seat. "I may be unfortunate to tell you, but it seems that old man knows of what we did to Team Obsidian." Kakumo saw Himatsu jerked and halted re-stacking the scrolls that fell earlier. The other man slowly turned his gaze towards Kakumo._

"_You serious?"_

"_Yes."_

"_What did you do?"_

"_I tried to reason out, obviously," Kakumo crossed his arms in front of his chest. "But as I explained to him, he just responded in a way that told me he was _expecting _such thing would happen to Team Obsidian. He was actually the one who sent that _'bandaged man' _together with the team."_

"_He did?" Himatsu dropped the scrolls in a small table beside the shelf and abandoned it; he went nearer towards Kakumo wearing a surprised and almost frightened face. "But… how did he know?"_

"_I don't _damn _know…" Kakumo responded with a growl. "But if that was what happened, then I'm sure that even the Intelligence Division is _breached_." He postulated, looking grimly at the other one. "Get me all the information you got on Uchiha Sasuke and please make sure that you do that _alone_." Kakumo said; his eyes almost unforgiving. "You don't need to ask," he spoke aloud when he saw Himatsu's lips quivered in a manner that seemed he would be asking a question, "Sasuke was the one sent by Ōnoki-jiji together with Team Obsidian."_

They were both looking at each other. It was just as Obito thought. Himatsu was also certainly right when he compared the current situation between him and the kage to 'stick throwing,' but he could not miss that it was also a staring contest. It was hard for Obito not to leave anything near Ōnoki for him to know of things. But as things unfolded _very gradually_, it seemed that he was being overpowered by his kage.

Ōnoki would not leave him alone, because he already doubted Obito.

As Obito finally turned into the thought, there was a sudden pain that stung his chest. It hurt to think that _his_ Ōnoki-_jiji_ was mistrusting him. He'd taken years to gain his trust! But what was happening? Slowly, the strong trust he'd gathered from his kage was dwindling. It pained him, really, that the person he'd _care_ for from the beginning was trying to move away from him. It was a childish thought, yes… very childish. But childish was the one word that was always attached to Obito's name. He didn't know what to think of. He knew he was the reason why Ōnoki-jiji mistrusted him, but he couldn't just ignore the pain!

"Kakumo-san!" A voice interrupted Kakumo's thought, accompanying it was a hand that held his shoulder. With the sudden agitation and his instinct shooting off from inside him, Kakumo sped his hand towards his kunai pouch and held a kunai within less a second, throwing it with a flick of his wrist to the man who his mind considered 'hostile.' His toss was flawlessly done, that the kunai went as a streak of wind. The ANBU had evaded quickly, not minding where the kunai would hit. A loud thud from the kunai hitting a wooden surface – a tree – signaled that the assault did not hurt anyone.

It was when Kakumo had seen the face of the man who he assumed an enemy that he almost shuddered in surprise. Not letting his own surprise take over his whole body, Kakumo suddenly grinned sheepishly. "Satetsu-san!" He shouted in a high-pitched voice, mimicking that of a child. "You should not do that to me! You know how twitchy my body is!"

However, the ANBU didn't see Kakumo's effort to lighten up the situation. What he saw was the face of a _killer_ – a hardened ninja that didn't mind who he was going to kill. Satetsu saw the killing intent delivered through the attack. The aim to kill… as if the weapon itself was imbedded by the killing miasma from the attacker. The ANBU only saw Kakumo's sudden shift of emotion as a façade of deceit… as if it was already a scripted action only to be done in _such _circumstances. He trembled at the thought, but the composure of an ANBU took over. "Kakumo-san, that was too much." He held his voice in serious monotone.

"I'm sorry, Satetsu-san." Kakumo responded, now scratching the back of his head. _The ANBU coded 'Sand,'_ he thought. _I wonder why…_

"You seem off from this world, Kakumo-san." Another ANBU from the group spoke.

"Feldspar-san," he nodded to him in recognition. "I'm just deep in thought."

"Don't," another ANBU in the group spoke. "You might lose your little brain."

"I'm not an idiot, Quartz-san!" Kakumo responded, almost raising his hands in annoyance. He didn't know how comical he looked. "You should know that better, considering that being in ANBU means being single-minded…"

"Why you…" Quartz almost aimed to attack when Feldspar halted him.

"Don't make this fight bigger." He said.

"But… but!"

"Hey, Feldspar-san!" Kakumo called out. "One word at a time… for him to understand."

"Sir!" Quartz looked at Feldspar. "Permission to kill fellow Iwagakure ninja!"

"Kakumo-san, what were you thinking?" Feldspar spoke, totally ignoring the still ranting ANBU, as the whole party resumed walking.

"I was wondering where Naruto is."

"Tsuchikage-sama brought Naruto-san with him in Takigakure," Feldspar answered. Kakumo almost failed to stop himself from smirking at the information he got. _Damn, easy piece of information_. "But he was sent to another mission, and I don't think Naruto-san will be back for a month or two with the objective the mission has."

"That's too sad," Kakumo said. "Where was he sent, anyway?" He inquired more, taking advantage of the small conversation for him to gather the necessary figures.

"_Suna_," Feldspar answered.

"You mean… Naruto is sent to the _Incoming War_?" Kakumo replied, not able to hide the amusement in his tone.

Feldspar nodded. The Incoming War, as it had been dubbed, was the unofficial codename for the plan to neutralize Suna. Since Iwagakure had deemed that Konohagakure was a village that would stand against the aggressions in the coming times, the former had been planning on weakening the foundations that held Konoha. Sunagakure was one of those of course. The Intelligence Division had evaluated the most likely outcome if the village would be put out of the equation, but they'd concluded that getting rid of the village wasn't a recommendable action at the moment.

Obito himself had doubts on attacking Suna. Calculations and theoretical simulations had shown that Iwagakure would sure win in an offensive war against Suna, with resources and other factors computed in handicap in almost half the full capability of Iwa. But evaluations only targeted specific goals and objectives. The defeat of Suna could be ensured – even Obito had a 100% recommendation to it – but the following scenarios would be the greatest factor to reduce the idea of attacking Suna to null. Probably, assaults that would be coming as reinforcement to Suna and retaliations against Iwa could topple Iwa in a matter of days. With Suna being bordered by allies – especially Konoha –, Iwa would be hard pressed to establish a defense line in Suna. That estimate was done not considering the weather patterns of Suna and the presence of rebel forces that could remain inside the village.

In short, the Intelligence Division decided that an attack to Suna was not recommendable.

But the Incoming War seemed to be a popular topic to the ninjas _left_ in Iwa.

"Well, I've always believed in Naruto." Kakumo concluded. _I've been fooled! _He shouted in his mind. _Ōnoki-jiji didn't lie… but Naruto is now out of Taki! _He smiled to himself. _I can now _move.

There was _pain _and _motivation _inside his chest. But he minded neither.

* * *

"They said that the Intelligence Division had evaluated that an attack against Suna is highly _discouraged_." Kurotsuchi spoke to the man standing in front of her. The other one was standing behind a window overlooking the Village Hidden in the Sand – Sunagakure.

"But it was clear that they did not say it is forbidden, right?" The man replied.

"So who made Ōnoki-sama allow this whole operation?" Kurotsuchi asked. "You know, this magnitude… attacking another _superior _hidden village is another thing!"

"Of course…" the man whirled back and faced her. "The one who made Ōnoki-sama permitted this whole operation is none other than…" he pointed his finger to his face. "Is me. Uzumaki Naruto."

"Why?"

"Let's just say I have a score to settle against this village." He smirked.

* * *

- **End of Chapter **-

Thanks for reading. I hope I can post the _exciting _chapters soon.

Good day!


	7. Stepping Stones

**Author's message: **Hey, everyone! This is a very late update, I know. (sweat drop) But I swear I'm going to finish this one! This chapter is a drag, sorry. I'm still thinking of another plot for another chapter.

I want to write Act III already - I hope it would be an Obito-centric fic. :)

**Disclaimer: **I own the world, but appears no to own Naruto.

* * *

**The Irony of Being a Ninja**

**Chapter 7 – Stepping Stones**

After one week of staying as captors in the cells found under the floors of the Hokage Tower itself, Team Obsidian was slowly being weakened. With no news, no gossips, _no anything_, the team was starting to harbor the feelings of hopelessness. The trio was already trying their best to cling around with one another, though not physically in their current condition, but with their full trust and hope that everything would be well for Iwa. Even though how much they'd suffer for the cause, and how long they'd remain inside the walls of Konoha, they would falter inside, but would never relent to the opposition of their adversaries. Weakened as they were, they would not give up the pride of being an Iwa.

The door that served as the only passage way down to the dungeons far below the ground itself opened slowly then suddenly halting halfway. Team Obsidian observed warily. It was some three hours after noon, and they were not expecting anyone from that time. From the moment they were captured and had undergone the first series of interrogations, Team Obsidian received _humane _cordiality even as _prisoners_. Though it would remain unclear whether they could be called _prisoners_; technically, Iwa and Konoha was not in an official state of war, and the team didn't actually violated the territoriality of Konoha. The Iwa team was found in Kusagakure, and should be _there_.

But there would be some instance, perhaps, when an alliance could prove its advantage.

The ninjas guarding the doors were speaking almost loudly, nearly sounding annoyed, though Team Obsidian didn't have any idea. The conversation outside died down as soon as it started, which made Moko curious. He knelt then finally settling himself in a crouched position, trying to move silently, probably to peek at the door. His cell was the one nearest to the entryway.

Before he could finally settle to a good spot to sneak a quick look, the door opened in a wide arc, before it hit the walls adjacent its hinges. The force that opened the door was obviously projecting an annoyed tone. Footsteps were heard moving away from the door, though it remained opened in some obscured reason. Moko glanced at Nebi whose cell was placed opposite to the former, who also shared the same look at him. The silver-haired Iwa shinobi shrugged and then proceeded to his observation.

"_ANBU_," a voice spoke from the door. "Get out." The owner of the voice sounded deliberate, yet it seemed to pose no harm.

The statement was met with silence. But after some seconds, the wind appeared to have shifted even inside the cold and _closed_ interior. _They've left_, Nebi suddenly thought. The presence which he had discovered as soon as they were brought to the place was suddenly proven to be Konoha's sneaky ANBUs. But before the man from outside could enter, another word was spoken again. "You too; no _exceptions_." Just after that short speech, the final and perhaps the most elusive presence vanished.

The man outside seemed to check the interior before letting himself in. He walked in a manner that projected some ultimate negligence, which brought Nebi into a memory of who could be the mysterious man that removed the presence of the ninja guards and the ANBUs inside their prison room. The dim illuminations brought no help into the discovery of the man, which Nebi was waiting to confirm his thoughts. One thing was sure – the man walked in an almost slouched posture. And as the newcomer finally stepped in the threshold of the torches that lit the locations where the team was being held, the identity of the said person was revealed.

"_Kakashi-sensei_?" It was Nebi who first blurted out, earning him a crinkle in the eye – most obviously a sign that he was smiling from under the mask – from the jounin.

"Yo." Kakashi simply replied, checking on each of the Iwa ninjas who were currently standing at their full height, while they clung at the vertical iron bars that prevented their escape. The trio seemed to look physically fine, but with Kakashi's mere look at their eyes showed that there was something that writhed _with pain_ inside.

"What are you doing here?" The silver-haired Iwa ninja asked.

"I'm just visiting some 'prisoners', you see," Kakashi replied in a lax tone. Moko could not discern if the lack of seriousness was directing to be mocking them or mere the reflection of the jounin's attitude. But from the non-verbal cues being constantly shown by the ninja, it seemed that it was more of the latter.

"And that required you to remove _every_ ninjas previously guarding us?" Nebi raised, narrowing his silvery-brown orbs towards the jounin. Hatake Kakashi peered at the eyes, seeing the rare color in them. It reminded him too much of himself back then, his eyes being a nexus null of emotions and a piercing weapon that could rip open one's innermost feelings. But who he was back then was different from who he was at the present. The squinting eyes didn't irritate him, and was therefore _ineffective _at the moment.

"You still surprise me with your observation," Kakashi avoided the aura Nebi projected and instead applauded the implication of his words. Indeed, it was really suspicious that he had removed all the ninjas that were ordered to protect the prisoners. What was more questioning though was the fact that he was the only _one _that entered the place. "There has been, a change of _plans_, I think."

Moko and Sumi could only watch from their places, seemingly surprised that it was Nebi who was doing most of the talk for his team. Nebi was never fond of strangers, and was actually hostile to the people already branded as an enemy. And since the person standing before him, just outside the prison bars, was a person that Team Obsidian had deemed an enemy before at the _indirect _stipulation of their senpai, Naruto, they were expecting that Nebi would be a little more _aggressive _than what he was showing.

"And that is?" Nebi inquired, not really seeing the questioning looks of his teammates.

"From now on, I will be the one guarding your prison cells, Team Obsidian." Kakashi answered.

It made Nebi cringe.

* * *

_True to what Kakashi had postulated, he did have a hard time in contacting the prisoners from Iwa. Since Konoha was looking at Iwa with contempt due to the events surrounding the nimble relationship between the two villages, they made a tighter and less hospitable reception for the three ninjas. Heads of the Torture and Interrogation Division – surprisingly headed by Morino Ibiki himself – were escorting the ninjas very discretely, with ten ANBU guards trailing behind the small convoy. Hatake Kakashi hadn't seen such envoy of prisoners escorted with multitude of powerful individuals._

_And the presence of Shikamaru only made it harder for Kakashi._

_The Copycat ninja was given the opportunity to stand inside the Hokage office while the Godaime herself was being briefed by the genius Nara. He remained silent (as he always been), listening to every words muttered by Shikamaru. He was mildly surprised to know that he and the other chuunin of his generation had met up and fought with the three prisoners, labeling them to the extent that they were 'extremely proficient and powerful.' As he tried to remember the events on that fateful war, he was together with Kakumo, fighting off the monster of Akatsuki in the name of Kakuzu. He was the only Konoha ninja that had taken the opportunity to get deeper inside Takigakure. So it appeared that they were left outside, he thought, looking lazily at the Nara. What had made Kakashi lose his cool was when Shikamaru told the Hokage to 'verify the events with Yamato-taichou's own report.'_

_Kakashi was both annoyed and amused of the things he learned that day._

_He was irritated, because, technically, it would be very, very difficult for him to reach and talk to the ninjas who were his sure link to Naruto. He was very near to knowing the truth. But it seemed that the heavens were punishing him. With the presence of formidable minds now lingering around the people who he needed to talk to, he would be hard-pressed to do his own task._

_He was amused. It was then for the moment, Hatake Kakashi needed to put his single ace to play. For him to be able to succeed in at least meeting up with those ninjas, he needed to turn himself in._

_**o o o**_

"_You want who for you to do what?" Tsunade raised her head and met up with the visage of Kakashi. She stopped reading a particular scroll that came from Kusagakure and placed it smoothly atop of other documents, which the copycat didn't have time to decipher if they were done or still waiting to be read. Kakashi had noticed the use of too much pronoun in her question and raised a quirking eyebrow in slight amusement._

"_Let me take part in dealing with the prisoners from Iwa," Kakashi repeated himself. It took him considerable amount of thinking before he decided to volunteer himself with questioning the ninjas. He already calculated what were at stake with the thing he just said._

_Tsunade just stared blankly at Kakashi. From the periphery of her vision, she noticed that Ibiki was trying to sneak upon their conversation from the door that was left ajar… or not. The head interrogator was looking dimly but excitedly at Kakashi. With that alone, the realization dawn back at Tsunade, as memories surged back to her that brought the pieces just a month ago._

_Kakashi was being suspected of some involvement with Iwagakure._

_The Copycat ninja was aware of the presence of Ibiki standing by the hallway, and seemed to be observing the exchange inside the office. In fact, he was mildly assured that the attendance of the interrogator would put him to advantage. There he was, already prostrating himself before the Hokage, silently shouting 'Here! I'm here! You suspect me of something, right? Come! Get me!' Kakashi was itching to wait what the Hokage would decide upon. Please realize immediately, Kakashi said in his mind, wishing that Tsunade heard it._

"_Come 'ere, Ibiki," Tsunade flatly announced, motioning the ninja to enter the office. Kakashi remained motionless. He had sensed Ibiki even before he was thirty steps away from that door._

"_Tsunade-sama," Ibiki quickly bowed as soon as he reached a distance from her table. "I'm sorry to disturbed your conversation." Tsunade waved her off. "I'm here to report you about the latest situation regarding the prisoners." He took a look at Kakashi._

_Kakashi saw the glance coming from Ibiki, but he remained unstirred. As a master of psychological skirmishes, Morino Ibiki was one tough opponent to begin with. Not just physically… but an unshakable mind that could topple others with no difficulty at all. But Kakashi knew this, since he had once fallen with this trap of Ibiki. He knew what the other one was trying to do – eliciting an expression from him. Nonverbal clues such as a shudder might mean nothing on the first glance. But the keyword was there – nonverbal. Unspoken, yet conveyed. _Silent, but more powerful_. Kakashi needed to avoid that if he wanted to evade Ibiki's invisible attacks…_

"_Kakashi, it seems that I need to be briefed," Tsunade spoke to the Copycat ninja. The latter read it very clearly: 'get out of here now.' With no other choice, he slowly turned away to the direction of the door, leaving the two alone with their devices. He wouldn't mind the latest information concerning the ninjas… for now. As of the moment, Kakashi was very satisfied that he had fulfilled some of his goals for the day. Never mind the things that had transpired inside the cold rooms of the Torture and Interrogation Division – information rarely escaped the four corners of that place anyway. There would be more time for Kakashi to know… and he was sure about it._

_Oh… how he loved playing mind games. He was so sure that now he had add some ingredients to Ibiki and Tsunade's concoction of doubt against him, they would ultimately seek for him to be included in the recipe. He had made himself bait, and as the nicest bait he could present himself. And who was Ibiki not to mind him? It was the prey that had moved nearer to the predator… Kakashi didn't mind he was the prey at the moment. He was very sure that he was going to be the predator in the end._

* * *

"So… basically, you turned yourself in?" Nebi asked. He was now sitting in the floor, his legs crossed atop each other. The other two members of Team Obsidian were intently listening to the conversation, who both went to the sides of their cell where the jounin was closest to. Kakashi had brought a wooden chair from outside and placed in the middle where all the people inside could see or at least listen to him.

"_Hai_," Kakashi replied. "I am being suspected from before and made use of that to be able to get here."

"But doesn't it mean that you have _confessed _that they are right in the idea of you being involved to Iwa?" Nebi commented.

"Basically, yes." Kakashi said. It was true. That by making his last decision, he had deliberately told the Hokage that he indeed was having some hidden engagement with the not-yet-enemy, Iwa. "But it will not matter anymore… More or less, I am almost a hundred percent sure that I will not be _wasted_."

_Wasted_, Sumi thought of the word. Kakashi appeared to have meant that he would not be put to a trial that would ultimately lead to his downfall and subsequent _death_. Of course. It would be foolish to bestow death to a ninja nowadays, now that the world would seemed to engage in a full-blown already. Every ninja at the moment would be too precious to be wasted. Criminal or not, Kakashi would deserve to serve Konoha. Although Sumi might be wrong as well... Perhaps, Konoha would not be able to tolerate the presence of any traitor at all…

"I tried to help Naruto," Kakashi continued to speak. "That's why I went deeper inside Takigakure than anyone of us Konoha ninjas. He had told me that Naruto was in danger, so every morals regarding the enemy I had suppressed. That time," Kakashi's lone eye looked at the floor, seemingly going dim, "it didn't matter to me whether Konoha or Iwa, or even Takigakure was winning. All that was important to me was Naruto's safety. That's why I accepted Obito's help."

"Who's _Obito_?" At the moment, it was Moko who spoke.

Kakashi looked understandingly towards the muscular teen, the representation of what an Iwa ninja must be. He knew himself that Obito had taken a new identity to be able to perform without hindrance, and a select few had known the truth. Surprisingly, it appeared that even the Tsuchikage knew about it (more specifically, he might had been the one who encouraged Obito to assume a new identity) and was supporting the Uchiha, who he discovered to be an envoy to Ōnoki himself. With that, he had told the team of the origins of Kakumo, who was once a proud member of Konoha, a ninja who Kakashi secretly glorified for his courage and will, the only Uchiha who had gone against their tradition, and the present person that protected Naruto even at cost of selling his soul.

Much of his explanation was exaggeration, it seemed. But Kakashi had the feeling that it was all true.

"So he was like Naruto-senpai, then," Sumi spoke, apparently shocked at the information given to them.

"You knew that Naruto was from Konoha?" Kakashi spoke.

"We've discovered recently…"

"It's about some announcement," Moko included himself in the conversation once again. "About something Naruto-senpai _dying _while together with a sannin of Konoha…"

It clicked in Kakashi's mind. He was very sure that the announcement was made only for the jounin and chuunin, not even the civilian community wasn't told of it. But if these kids had known about the announcement, then it was possible that there was someone from the chuunin or jounin ranks of Konoha that leaked out the information. He must look into that after he had finished his shift later. _There is a mole inside Konoha_.

Kakashi himself drifted into silence afterwards, content of just observing the trio. After all, he had used the time window for him to speak freely – the act he had done lately was to ensure the confusion atop the Hokage's office in order to create a time frame that would not involve the Hokage sending some more _hidden _ninjas. The ANBUs from later only removed themselves – he knew – because they'd known Kakashi as he'd known them. He knew that the next ones wouldn't be swayed with petty identities alone.

* * *

Obito had been frantically running across the small office of the Tsuchikage, while he flailed his hands in a comical fashion. Ōnoki was looking at him with both annoyance and amusement, while he kept himself concentrated on sorting out the paperwork that had started to bury his table. It seemed that even the oak table would finally lose against the sheer weight that came together with those _demonic _entities known as _official documents_.

The Tsuchikage sighed. He could not concentrate while a noisy adult was scampering around the office as if a pre-teen that was being chased by rabbits and lions. His patience dying inside him, he shouted towards the intelligence chief, "Kakumo! Please stop moving around!"

Obito looked at the source of the voice. After seeing the person who was also inside the room together with him, a hint of realization dawned to him as his eyes widened just before he gave a very humble obeisance towards the old man. "_Gomen, gomen, _Ōnoki-jiji!" Even with his mouth away from the Tsuchikage, his yells proved to be difficult to muffle. "I'm just worried!" He looked up again to start explaining. "You know that we've just been through Takigakure and then those talks with Konoha and Suna and Kusa. And then ––'no!' they said. We then ––ah! So we got to –you know, and then we went back there to sought those shenanigans and now I found that –oh _Kami_." The particular last word went soft against the unintelligible words that were spewed out by Obito's loud mouth.

Ōnoki just looked at him as if the intelligence chief had lost his own sanity because of information overload through multiple acts of spying, collecting data, and analyzing of all the intelligences gathered in the fields of everywhere. And it seemed to be the part that the Tsuchikage was amused upon. Even though how much years seemed to pass and how much development had occurred to Obito's personality, it was one thing that had been retained inside the adult. He's playful side had manifested different variants, and although he looked incomprehensible and unserious whenever he drowned himself in that mood, the strength and the cunningness of Obito never left him. It would actually reinforce every other obscured talent Obito had for himself.

"Just calm down, Kakumo." The Tsuchikage said. It seemed that whenever Obito came to this point of his attitude, everything that hindered their relationship with each other vanished in the air, as if never of them happened. Obito was the playful brat while he was the older man trying to amuse the bounciness of the former. "What is it that you fret too much?"

"What you told me exactly some one minute and sevent–eighteen seconds ago," Obito answered, heaving some large air as he inhaled and expelling it almost too immediately.

"And that was?" The Tsuchikage replied, not quite remembering what he had said lately.

"As Naruto being the reason for the _Incoming war_!"

Ōnoki finally decided to leave the documents on his table and instead focused his full attention to Kakumo. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking mirthfully at the Uchiha. "There are always plans that are postulated on the spot." He turned his head away towards the door, his eyes glistening with guilt. "I say sorry for not conveying it to your division."

"S'okay," Obito answered, amazed that the Tsuchikage made an apology. "That notion had been analyzed by the Intelligence Division, and we have already sent you our recommendations, right?" He smiled and moved towards the window, making himself comfortable by leaning on the sill. "What I'm just concerned about is Naruto's involvement in it."

"He had participated in Takigakure…"

"But not as the mastermind." Obito rebutted.

"I'm merely curious of what Naruto _thinks_." Ōnoki replied.

"So you mean?" Obito looked at him with surprise, his eyes widening and his mouth almost hanging.

"Yes," Ōnoki answered. "I've accepted the proposition without hearing the full details." He shifted his hands away from his chest and then propped them atop the table, tapping some of his fingers in a rhythmic fashion. "I'm looking forward for his development, Kakumo. _And the preparation of the future._" He whispered his last words.

"Bu-b-b-but!" Obito stuttered.

"Don't you trust your own _nephew_?" Ōnoki threw a silencing reply. "And don't worry; I'm sure you'll do anything in your power to protect him."

**One day after**

"This is not we're expecting!" One cloaked figure yelled at his companion.

A mere disgruntled response escaped from the other one's throat, also full of disappointment and annoyance. The smaller yet bigger companion, which stood only at the waist of his comrade, looked straight ahead the path, observing the debris that scattered and blocked the small gap across the hill. The smokes were still fresh, evident that an explosion had erased the trail. He moved ahead, as the one together with him noticed him with unexplainable vexation.

"We will move, as we are expected to." The other one explained, his huge body walking across the scarred dessert, marking the ground behind him with no foot step but instead some weird blotch that resembled those made from large war machines being dragged across the battlefield.

"They made a mistake about telling us _this_!" The tall one ranted, as his long blond hair danced ungracefully with the wind.

"The sleeper agent was dead," the other one spoke, he whose mouth was covered by mask, and a whole body that was covered by the cape. It looked similar to the back of the turtle, his back arching in a dome.

"It appears that there is no time to be sneaky, _un_?" The other one replied, clearly not looking well due to the sudden turn of events that had swept them as soon as they reached the portals of Suna. He pocketed his hands on the pouch dangling on his sides. It took it some seconds before he procured a small white object that spitted out by the mouth in his hands. In a last moment the mouth's tongue licked the object and smacked the lips. The blond one could only look in anticipation when he had finished his art.

"Art is a bang!" He almost yelled. He threw the white object and it changed into a large winged figure. "_Sasori no Danna_," he jumped on the back of his creation, "I'll scout, but if ever the plan can still _exist_, then I'm taking my chance, un?"

"Make it quick," it was the answer of the companion. "I hate waiting a long time, _Deidara_."

**o o o**

A huge cylindrical building nearing the northern borders of Sunagakure exploded into pieces as a landslide that cascaded from the nearby hill almost imploded by itself. The huge avalanche of rocks and earth had trampled any structure, and the building bowed down into its foundation as it collapsed into dust. A kunai was thrown as soon as the Sunagakure ninjas were thrown into confusion, many being hit in the thighs and in the arms, rendering them almost useless in battle. Four three-cell Sunagakure ninja were instantly left unconscious as the first wave of Iwagakure ninjas performed their ultimate techniques.

Even in Sunagakure, it appeared that the recently infamous Earth Release: Earth's Year Assault proved effective.

As soon as another building collapsed, a signal was waved far above the reach of lesser structures, and boulders the size of houses were suddenly hurled from the nearby hill, where the landslide had started. The boulders cleared a way for more of the incoming Iwagakure ninjas, since the barrage had destroyed the smaller buildings and created a huge part.

"Everyone," the jounin Iwa ninja held his right hand enough for his comrades to see, "we've taken the first and second streets as planned. We'll be holding this area for a moment." Everyone nodded. Even though there were some in their troop that had wanted to go straight deeper into Sunagakure, they were hardened ninjas who had treasured their patience. And, even though they appeared to be winning, they had always paid respect to the ninjas who were their neighbors in the south. There were battle-hardened too, as they were.

The Iwagakure ninjas, who were consisted of three three-cell groups – amounting to nine ninjas –, had begun to station themselves across the clearing, preparing traps and looking at possible locations were the Suna ninjas could counterattack. After all, they were the first wave of assault of invaders – they'd be the first target of retaliations.

After some minutes of entrenchments, an Iwagakure ANBU appeared beside the Iwa jounin who was organizing his own small troop. He wasn't look surprised, even though the sudden appearance. His countenance only showed that he expecting the arrival of the person.

"A message from _Sunset_," the ANBU spoke, and nod signaled him to continue reporting the reason he was sent for. "The target has been located. Sunset has ordered three-fourth of the resources to secure the target. The first and second wave of invaders will pursue to secure two blocks in the north. The western troop has finally pushed through and was ordered to remain in a small area to maximize defending ability."

The jounin reflected on the information relayed to him, and some thoughts had sprouted in his mind. "If I'm not mistaken, the invading waves will remain as a pretext that we're preparing to help a larger force arrive?" He said.

"That is correct," the ANBU answered. "We've got two objectives, and both are priorities."

"But how long will we try to hold off the retaliation?"

"Do not worry," the ANBU merely displaced the anxiety. "The target has been found in the middle of Sunagakure." The tone was haughty, and the Iwa jounin had almost smirked, if not of the seriousness of their present situation.

"So… in the long run, that three-quarter Iwagakure force will be brought right in the middle of Sunagakure?"

"Hitting two birds with one _rock_."

**o o o**

Deidara was dismayed. There was a full-blown war and they weren't aware of it. What had happened in Akatsuki that it had been struck right under its nose by some sketchy information and had ultimately brought it down into some erratic situations? During the last time Takigakure, which was supposed to be under the control of two of his fellow members, Kakuzu and Hidan, was merely trampled to the ground by a surprising Iwagakure. Without really knowing what happened (even the sneaky _Zetsu_ had been hard-pressed into knowing), Akatsuki concluded that the other two were defeated by the village. It had been unbelievable, but with the last set of information about the Tsuchikage going into the scene of the war, then they had finally believed the former to be true.

And he was more pissed that Iwagakure had taken the central role in event.

He was a former Iwagakure ninja, after all.

As he flew above Suna, he could see that the northern portion of the village was now covered in dust, explosions, and rubbles. The western portion seemed not faring well too. But, the assault had seem to halt for a while, since the battles seemed to have remained where the attack had paused. Trying to view the general picture, he could see that the Sunagakure ninjas were mustering ninjas in the southern portion, since it was the farthest territory away from where Iwa could enter. A line of first retaliatory ninjas were forming in the center, and were moving carefully towards and western and the northern portions.

Now, he had found that his task had become almost impossible. A war… and for sure, the Kazekage would be participating in this one. Everyone was on a heightened alert, and the situation would only render his job a little more annoying – of course! Everyone would now look out at their Kazekage even more.

He glided downwards to a lower altitude, trying to see the situation on Iwagakure's side. But as soon as his flying creature had descended at the height of the tallest cylindrical tower, a large bolt had missed him by arms length. Looking at the source, he had seen a maneuverable ballista that had been positioned by Iwagakure ninjas not too far. Focusing too much at his attackers, he failed to notice that the bolt was covered with exploding tags.

And exploded…

He was covered in fire, but he had managed to meander through the explosion. Two more bolts missed him, and more and more had come to hit him. As he evaded the attack the best that he could, he only realized that there was something different in this war.

Much of the Iwagakure attacking force had been directed to him now. And the invasion force first inserted by Iwa? They were standing-by and just waited, defended… and watched him.

Watched him…

_Could it be!_

The barrage of bolts continued to rain him down. He then decided to let the attack cool first as he steered back towards the space where he had observed the Sunagakure ninjas. But as soon as he reached the airspace, another series of arrow and bolt attacks – now of different designs – had assaulted him too. Looking below, it appeared that the ballistae of Suna had been pointed to him too.

As he tried to reach a conclusion, the only thought that came to him was…

_Is this 'war' just a play to catch me off?_

* * *

**_- _****End of Chapter** -

I know this chapter's bad. Sorry.

I'm still trying to create the _unique _plot that I want. Just you wait, guys.


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